Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a minimum of one year. I would also like to appeal to drop the fall 2014 courses ARTH 212, ARTH 226, ARTH 253, and ARTH 292.
In the fall term of 2014 I began my school year with a good start. As September came to a closing I started to experience symptoms of depression believed to have been caused by the stress of school as well as a close friend passing away and of having no way of attending her funeral. I continued to ignore these signs and struggled to class every morning and tried to interact with friends and family. They could not see these signs at this point either as I did not show any signs that I was not feeling like myself. These symptoms only continued to get worse and worse. I started to ignore calls from friends and family, cutting off communication and any chance of getting help. At this point I wanted to be by myself and thought I could handle all this by myself. However, I did not realize that I could not, because I kept denying it myself. I found it more and more difficult to wake up every morning and go to class. Not attending class was the number one reason I did not do well in my courses. Listening to the professor and taking notes is a major part of learning in the classroom. At the end of the term I did not write my exams because I could not physically be there. I was handing in assignments late or not at all because I felt as though there was no point of me trying. I became more and more unorganized and uninterested because I recall feeling like it was too late to catch up and get help. As I avoided friends, family and any help, I did not receive the professional help I needed at the time. Mostly because I denied that I needed help and believed that I could handle it myself. This was causing me to believe that I did not need help from a professional. Therefore, I do not have an opinion from a professional who can confirm what I have experienced last year. The winter term, I still continued to feel the same way, however, I sought help from my parents. I let them know what I was facing. However, they did not know the full degree of the issue as they did not have the time and money to visit me. I started to slowly recover from my disoriented and depressed state later in to the term. However, I was not ready to talk to friends and to let them know what I was facing. I started trying to show up to class and hand in assignments on time and show up to my exams. I did do a lot better in the winter term than I did in the fall term because I attended class, handed in assignments and wrote my exams.