Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing to formally request a credit standing in the following courses: CHEM 112, HLTH 230, BIOL 243, BIOL 206, BIOL 200, BCHM 218, and PHGY 215.

During my Fall 2021 semester at Queen's, COVID-19 was still at its peak on campus. This disruption meant that during my exam period in December, exams were moved online during a COVID-19 outbreak in the residences. Upon returning home, I tested positive for Covid and missed the CHEM 112 exam. I had withdrawn from residence prior to knowing that I was not able to complete my first year online and that I had to return to campus. Moving back to Kingston and trying to get a spot back in Residence greatly affected my attendance and ability to complete content for the course, as well as my grades on the quizzes. After meeting with the course instructors, it was decided that the weight from the winter exam would be added to my final, making it worth 60% of my final grade. Having to take an exam on the content that I had missed due to moving between cities and worth that amount, greatly affected my final grade in the course.

During my Fall 2022 semester at Queen's, I suffered a seizure on the 29th of September 2022. I had an academic accommodation letter that excused me from my course's assessments for approximately three weeks. My accommodations ended right before my HLTH 230 and BIOL 243 midterm. My other two courses that semester had mostly online content, so I was not missing any in-person activities, and I withdrew from my fifth course. Missing the amount of content I did, greatly impacted my performance on the midterms. The rest of the semester was incredibly stressful trying to come back from the midterm grades while also experiencing neurological symptoms. The house I was living in at the time would also regularly keep me awake until 3:00 am-4:00 am and leave the kitchen in such a mess with garbage and drugs that I could not even cook food, further impacting my performance at school.

During my Winter 2023 semester at Queen’s, I struggled with my housing situation and mental health, severely affecting my performance in BIOL 206, BIOL 200, and BCHM 218. I began counseling at the Wellness center, where I was given a diagnosis of depression with mixed features, mostly anxiety and mood dysregulation. My housing situation greatly affected my physical and mental health. My roommates were incredibly messy, loud, and disrespectful. Regularly keeping me awake until 3:00 am-4:00 am when I had 8:30 am lectures and leaving the kitchen in such a mess with garbage and drugs that I could not even cook food. My counselor was willing to provide supporting documentation for my landlord to allow me to break the lease, but after a house inspection he let me break the lease immediately as of February 1st. Not being able to regularly sleep or eat made attendance very difficult. The stress of having to move houses in the middle of the semester on my own also made covering school content difficult. All these disruptions to my academic semester put a lot of pressure on my final exams. I needed nearly impossible grades to achieve the averages I wanted and could achieve had I not had so many disturbances.

In the Summer 2023 session I took PHGY 215 online. During the summer, I also had a Mirena IUD insertion. This landed me with weeks of intense and debilitating pain. I was unable to drive, complete a shift at work without fainting or being sick, and study for a summer course. I got an extension on an assignment when I went to the hospital. The IUD had perforated my uterus and needed to be removed immediately. I was given narcotics and new birth control to replace it. I was still in a great deal of physical pain for most of the summer while I healed and the new birth control was horrible for my depression, affecting my focus and productivity for the course. Without my medical complication, I had high expectations and hopes regarding my final grade for PHGY 215, however I do not think that was reflected with what I ended the course with.