Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 11158
Submitted: November 21, 2023 at 4:51:50 PM
First Name: Bronwynn
Last Name: Simpson
Pronoun: she/ger
Student Number: 20235230
Email: 20bes@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: HLTH
Level of Study: 4
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the 21-day or one term deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,
My name is Bronwynn Simpson, and I am a current fourth year student majoring in health studies. I am petitioning for credit standing courses on my transcript for winter semester of 2022. The winter semester of 2022 does not reflect my efforts here at Queen’s or the student I am. I succeed in all my classes and am a hardworking individual. I happened to have extenuating circumstances during this time period that have had lasting effects on me.
During my second year at Queen’s my grandmother fell extremely ill unexpectedly and passed away on December 24th, 2021. This was during a very high level of COVID-19 cases and due to this, I was unable to see her. When she fell ill, I thought this was something she would get through and so I did not put my life on pause. I continued to study for my exams while she was in the hospital, calling her when I could. My housemates ended up testing positive for COVID in the exam period, so I had to defer my exams. This pushed my exams to the following weeks after her passing. The following semester was filled with challenge and grief that I could not seem to shake. My life was filled with the overarching guilt and sadness that I never had the chance to say goodbye to her. As you can imagine, my life was challenging in more ways than one and my academics suffered the consequences.
To many, grandparents are special people in their lives but to me, there are not enough words to describe the importance of this woman in my life. She is the inspiration for everything I do and I see her amazing qualities manifesting in everyone lucky enough to know her. My parents had very demanding careers with my mother being a doctor at Sickkids and my father running his own chiropractic clinic. Luckily my grandmother lived fifteen minutes away, so she looked after my brother and I, helping raise us when my parents were busy. From picking us up from school to sleepovers on the weekends, she was there through every step of my life. She watched me grow up and wished me the best when I was sent to university. Those who were lucky enough to know my grandmother often referred to her as a caring individual with enough joy to light up a room. People would always tell me how much my grandmother spoke about me and with such love and joy, and the feeling was more than mutual. To know my grandmother was to love her, even if you just met her in passing. My grandmother taught me some of my most important life lessons making me the person I am today. She had five grandchildren total with me being the youngest. I was often left out from the rest as I was quite a bit younger, but she had the ability to make me feel like the most special one there. She is one of the most influential people on my life and I cannot express how lucky I am to have had her in my life.
This was a devastating loss and turned my entire world upside down with a long road of grief ahead. I have always been a very academically driven individual and did not think twice about continuing my studies after her passing. I was not emotionally ready to accept my reality and the fact that this loss would have such an impact on my life. I tried to continue through my studies despite the struggles I was going through. With the little experience I have with grief, I did not know the best way to handle myself. I was navigating through an extremely difficult time period in my life, with classes being online, COVID cases rising and a recent loss of my grandmother. With all that was going on in the world I did not feel as though I had time to pause my life and reflect on anything.
These grades are a poor reflection of the student I am and the work I have poured into my degree. I am hoping that there is a way to change the narrative of that academic year and turn it into something I can reflect on without so much regret. This is the reason I am reaching out to petition to appeal these grades and get them credit standing.
I thank you for your consideration in advance.
Sincerely,
Bronwynn Simpson.
My name is Bronwynn Simpson, and I am a current fourth year student majoring in health studies. I am petitioning for credit standing courses on my transcript for winter semester of 2022. The winter semester of 2022 does not reflect my efforts here at Queen’s or the student I am. I succeed in all my classes and am a hardworking individual. I happened to have extenuating circumstances during this time period that have had lasting effects on me.
During my second year at Queen’s my grandmother fell extremely ill unexpectedly and passed away on December 24th, 2021. This was during a very high level of COVID-19 cases and due to this, I was unable to see her. When she fell ill, I thought this was something she would get through and so I did not put my life on pause. I continued to study for my exams while she was in the hospital, calling her when I could. My housemates ended up testing positive for COVID in the exam period, so I had to defer my exams. This pushed my exams to the following weeks after her passing. The following semester was filled with challenge and grief that I could not seem to shake. My life was filled with the overarching guilt and sadness that I never had the chance to say goodbye to her. As you can imagine, my life was challenging in more ways than one and my academics suffered the consequences.
To many, grandparents are special people in their lives but to me, there are not enough words to describe the importance of this woman in my life. She is the inspiration for everything I do and I see her amazing qualities manifesting in everyone lucky enough to know her. My parents had very demanding careers with my mother being a doctor at Sickkids and my father running his own chiropractic clinic. Luckily my grandmother lived fifteen minutes away, so she looked after my brother and I, helping raise us when my parents were busy. From picking us up from school to sleepovers on the weekends, she was there through every step of my life. She watched me grow up and wished me the best when I was sent to university. Those who were lucky enough to know my grandmother often referred to her as a caring individual with enough joy to light up a room. People would always tell me how much my grandmother spoke about me and with such love and joy, and the feeling was more than mutual. To know my grandmother was to love her, even if you just met her in passing. My grandmother taught me some of my most important life lessons making me the person I am today. She had five grandchildren total with me being the youngest. I was often left out from the rest as I was quite a bit younger, but she had the ability to make me feel like the most special one there. She is one of the most influential people on my life and I cannot express how lucky I am to have had her in my life.
This was a devastating loss and turned my entire world upside down with a long road of grief ahead. I have always been a very academically driven individual and did not think twice about continuing my studies after her passing. I was not emotionally ready to accept my reality and the fact that this loss would have such an impact on my life. I tried to continue through my studies despite the struggles I was going through. With the little experience I have with grief, I did not know the best way to handle myself. I was navigating through an extremely difficult time period in my life, with classes being online, COVID cases rising and a recent loss of my grandmother. With all that was going on in the world I did not feel as though I had time to pause my life and reflect on anything.
These grades are a poor reflection of the student I am and the work I have poured into my degree. I am hoping that there is a way to change the narrative of that academic year and turn it into something I can reflect on without so much regret. This is the reason I am reaching out to petition to appeal these grades and get them credit standing.
I thank you for your consideration in advance.
Sincerely,
Bronwynn Simpson.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NO DOC
Document: OBITUARY-Imelda Jones.docx
Documentation Detail: Obituary of my Grandmother
Documentation Detail: Letter to waive the academic deadline
Decision Letters
Level 1 Status
Status: DeniedLevel 2
Appeal Type: Level 2
ID: 258
Submitted: December 19, 2023 at 8:42:15 PM
Relevant Petition: 11158
Decision(s) Being Appealed: Waive the 21-day or one term deadline
Appeal Grounds
Appeals to the Board of Studies must include a letter based on one or more of the Grounds for Appeal (Appeal Regulation 3.4). What are the grounds you are basing your appeal on?
- The Associate Dean's decision did not follow the rules of procedural fairness. A breach of procedural fairness includes such things as the Associate Dean failed to:
- Make a reasonable decision in your appeal. A “reasonable” decision is one that is based on evidence, thought out and supported by facts and logical inferences from the facts. To be reasonable, the decision must contain adequate reasons for the conclusions.
Appeal Grounds Details: Appealing on the grounds that I feel the Associate Dean's decision was not reasonable because there were assumptions made about my academic ability based off of my transcript. I went on exchange and this is the reason that my initial academic appeal was denied. Fall semester of 2022 was another reason that my initial academic appeal was denied. However both of these are much more complicated than what is just on paper which I highlight in my appeal letter attached below.
Appeal Letter
Appeal Letter: Dear Board of Studies,
I am appealing the Associate Dean’s decision to deny my appeal to waive the 1-year deadline to submit an academic appeal. My original appeal was denied on the grounds that I had completed a successful fall 2022 semester, following with an exchange semester to Cardiff University in winter 2023. While both of these factors are correct, there is much more to them than what is on paper, which I will go over in this letter.
To begin with, I was able to complete fall 2022 semester to some extent. I was only able to take four courses in this semester, one of which I failed. I do not normally take a reduced course load but simply could not handle it in fall 2022. I found this semester extremely challenging, and it took a major toll on my mental health. I worked very hard and tried to, despite all the grief I was experiencing, do well in my academic studies. I did not want to fall any further behind than I had in the past year. Fall 2022 semester was filled with sleepless nights for me, not prioritizing my own mental health and overall, a difficult time. Trying to stay afloat on my academics was taking such a toll on me I did not have time for anything else. Which is why I was unable to submit an academic appeal in a timely manner. I was deeply struggling with school, along with balancing a newfound emotion for myself, grief. The grief came along with various other emotions of depression and anxiety in which I did not recognize myself. I dug myself into my academics as a form of distraction, filled with fear of failing myself and my family again.
Furthermore, I want to address my exchange to Cardiff University for winter semester of 2023. The main reason I went on exchange and chose the school that I did is because of my grandmother. My grandmother was born in Cardiff and spent a good portion of her life living there. My mother was also born here and so, Cardiff holds a very special place in our family. I was terrified to move away from my family and my friends, but this felt like something I had to do for not only myself, but my grandmother. I was accepted into Cardiff University’s exchange program around the same time as my grandmother passing. This felt like a sign from her, as one of her infamous sayings was ‘everything happens for a reason’. It gave me the opportunity to feel like I was with her again, reconnecting with her and the place that she held so much love for. I was able to spend time with my family living in Wales who were able to tell me endless stories about my grandmother and the wonderful woman she was. I saw her in the family I grew close with, I saw her in the people I met in passing who shared the same accent, and most of all I saw her in myself. Through this experience I was able to find myself again, my happiness and my purpose in the world again. This experience was able to give me some peace and closure after a long journey of grief. It taught me that grief does not have to just hold pain, but instead we can grieve with love and gratitude. I was able to come back from this experience and reflect on the past year to re-evaluate. It was not until I came home from exchange that I felt comfortable talking about my grandmother and opening up about how the grief impacted me.
I do not believe grief has any sort of timeline, especially for those that hold such influential value in your life. It took me more than a year to be able to reflect on the grief and begin to take steps towards piecing my life back together. I do apologize for the delay in this appeal and hope there can be some forgiveness given this reasoning. I thank you in advance for taking the time to read the letters I have submitted as they were not easy to write.
Thank you in advance,
Bronwynn Simpson.
I am appealing the Associate Dean’s decision to deny my appeal to waive the 1-year deadline to submit an academic appeal. My original appeal was denied on the grounds that I had completed a successful fall 2022 semester, following with an exchange semester to Cardiff University in winter 2023. While both of these factors are correct, there is much more to them than what is on paper, which I will go over in this letter.
To begin with, I was able to complete fall 2022 semester to some extent. I was only able to take four courses in this semester, one of which I failed. I do not normally take a reduced course load but simply could not handle it in fall 2022. I found this semester extremely challenging, and it took a major toll on my mental health. I worked very hard and tried to, despite all the grief I was experiencing, do well in my academic studies. I did not want to fall any further behind than I had in the past year. Fall 2022 semester was filled with sleepless nights for me, not prioritizing my own mental health and overall, a difficult time. Trying to stay afloat on my academics was taking such a toll on me I did not have time for anything else. Which is why I was unable to submit an academic appeal in a timely manner. I was deeply struggling with school, along with balancing a newfound emotion for myself, grief. The grief came along with various other emotions of depression and anxiety in which I did not recognize myself. I dug myself into my academics as a form of distraction, filled with fear of failing myself and my family again.
Furthermore, I want to address my exchange to Cardiff University for winter semester of 2023. The main reason I went on exchange and chose the school that I did is because of my grandmother. My grandmother was born in Cardiff and spent a good portion of her life living there. My mother was also born here and so, Cardiff holds a very special place in our family. I was terrified to move away from my family and my friends, but this felt like something I had to do for not only myself, but my grandmother. I was accepted into Cardiff University’s exchange program around the same time as my grandmother passing. This felt like a sign from her, as one of her infamous sayings was ‘everything happens for a reason’. It gave me the opportunity to feel like I was with her again, reconnecting with her and the place that she held so much love for. I was able to spend time with my family living in Wales who were able to tell me endless stories about my grandmother and the wonderful woman she was. I saw her in the family I grew close with, I saw her in the people I met in passing who shared the same accent, and most of all I saw her in myself. Through this experience I was able to find myself again, my happiness and my purpose in the world again. This experience was able to give me some peace and closure after a long journey of grief. It taught me that grief does not have to just hold pain, but instead we can grieve with love and gratitude. I was able to come back from this experience and reflect on the past year to re-evaluate. It was not until I came home from exchange that I felt comfortable talking about my grandmother and opening up about how the grief impacted me.
I do not believe grief has any sort of timeline, especially for those that hold such influential value in your life. It took me more than a year to be able to reflect on the grief and begin to take steps towards piecing my life back together. I do apologize for the delay in this appeal and hope there can be some forgiveness given this reasoning. I thank you in advance for taking the time to read the letters I have submitted as they were not easy to write.
Thank you in advance,
Bronwynn Simpson.
Documentation
History
Originally submitted November 21, 2023 at 4:51:50 PM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | Incomplete | Kerri Andrews | 2023-11-22 5:51:46 PM | |
| status | N/A | Incomplete | In Review | Kerri Andrews | 2023-11-23 2:00:14 PM | |
| status | N/A | In Review | Denied | Kerri Andrews | 2023-12-06 10:53:56 AM | |
| associate_dean | N/A | Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D. | Kerri Andrews | 2023-12-06 10:53:56 AM | ||
| decision_letter | N/A | N/A | Decision letter sent | Kerri Andrews | 2023-12-06 10:55:40 AM | |
| new_appeal_level_2 | N/A | Level 2 | Level 2 Appeal ID: 258 | 20bes | 2023-12-19 8:42:15 PM | |
| status | N/A | Received | Denied | Board upheld the ADA decision on April 22, 2024 | Libby Hearn | 2024-04-22 11:50:09 AM |