Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter today as a petition to drop the course POLS 496 after the academic deadline and instead receive a “DR” on my transcript.

On March 14th, 2024, I was informed that my step-father was involved in a severe motorcycle accident. I immediately rushed home to Toronto, Ontario to be with my family and ensure they had my support during this incredibly emotional time. As you may be able to imagine, this accident was incredibly traumatic and had a significant emotional impact on my family, specifically myself and my mother who share very important relationships with my step-father. While at home, I began to experience a considerable amount of stress and anxiety as I worried about the condition of both my step-father while trying to ensure I was able to provide enough support for my mother. Unfortunately, I was only able to be home for a short time and upon returning to Kingston on March 19th, I found myself significantly behind in my course work, specifically for POLS 496 which I had several assignments due for at the time.

After contacting Dr. Caroline Dunton for an extension, which she graciously granted, I attempted to complete the assignments alongside my course work from other courses, which I was also behind in. This proved to be extremely challenging, however, as over the last two weeks feelings of stress and anxiety directly related to this incident have seemingly taken over my life as I fall further behind in school while worrying for the health of my step-father and attempting to support my mother from a distance while she is at home in Toronto. I hope you can understand that it is not easy to focus on completing assignments and attending class when all you can think about is your loved ones who are suffering both physically and emotionally.

It has become evident to me that this accident has had significant negative impacts on my mental health, ultimately affecting my ability to fulfil my academic commitments, which is incredibly important to me as a student. Instead of allowing this accident to hold me back both mentally and academically, dropping this course would allow me to allocate time to address the significant impact that this event has had on my mental health while also rebalancing my academic commitments and enabling me to still succeed as a student. While I do not have any supporting documentation as I can not submit any of my step-father’s medical information, I plan on seeking help from a mental health professional once I am able to sort out my academics in order to further understand the impacts that this has had on my mental health and how to recover. I can provide further documentation in the future if necessary.

Thank you for considering my circumstances and petition to drop this course after the academic deadline.

I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Jack