Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am petitioning for a late course drop for the following courses: CISC 204 (Winter, 2024) and CISC 235 (Winter, 2024). I thank you for your time and care in considering my extenuating circumstances. I am asking for special consideration as this 2024 Winter semester has been overwhelming and challenging. I have been struggling to handle a toxic household environment consisting of a lengthy divorce process that my parents continue fighting and my mother has been at risk for breast cancer for some months while I have been traveling back home to support her with her biopsy and diagnosis. Early in January, I returned home to visit my family where my father, drunk one night, became violent and threatened to hit me in the head with a dumbbell before my mother interfered. I feared for my safety as I could not imagine what could have happened had my mother not been there and when I returned back to school, I pursued my studies extremely stressed and anxious, worried for the safety and health of both my mother and brother at home. In the Fall semester, my mother and brother were living with her cousins and I could focus on my studies without fear for my family. I was blessed to finish the term with a 4.120 yet living arrangements at home changed in the winter resulting in a challenging semester with a 1.830. I have sought resources through my childhood priest who has always offered advice on dealing with abusive households and Student Wellness Services who have offered counseling and free divorce options for my mother, granting me a one-month academic consideration for February so that I may visit my family and help my mother. As such, I was unable to attend all my classes and complete pertinent assignments as I fell behind. Some deferred assignments and tests I was unable to complete as the syllabus did not offer replacements. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete a 70% deferred final although initially approved as I was told that I was missing assignments part of the Learning Goals. These computing courses are my most challenging in material and build upon each other, yet I was determined to continue them as I did not want to drop them before the deadline as they are not offered in the summer and would delay my graduation since they are mandatory prerequisites for upper-year courses. Unfortunately, this was not possible with my extenuating circumstances as I continued to travel back home throughout the semester to help my mother who was recently diagnosed with a category 3 and a category 4 abnormality in her breast. Moreover, I dropped a 5th course before the deadline to better manage my load and I chose to spend whatever little time I had on PHAR 370 and PHGY 350 as these courses were far more manageable. I have two failures for both computing courses as I was unable to complete the majority of the content, dropping my cumulative GPA for which I worked so hard from 3.900 to 3.5800. I know I can excel in these courses in a normal semester and as I have plans to pursue a research-based master's in Computing at Queen’s and medical school in the future, it would mean the world to me to have them dropped from the transcript so that I can maintain my GPA and prepare for my next two years so that I may graduate on time with an acceptable GPA to pursue further education. Regarding an academic plan, I have scheduled my courses over the next two years, retaking CISC 204 and CISC 235 in the fall semester so that I may have the correct prerequisites to continue. I plan on speaking to my academic advisor to make sure I am on the proper path with no course discrepancies, use counseling services when vulnerable, and seek resources with a learning strategist from Student Academic Success Services as they helped me last fall term in maintaining a focused and efficient approach to my studies such as active recall. Additionally, I will be attending multiple tutoring and TA office hour sessions this year so that I can keep up with my computing education and make use of online programming resources to prepare for an internship next summer. Moreover, I am taking a reduced course load of 3-4 each semester so that I have the room to focus on my difficult algorithm courses. Fortunately, my family’s situation has improved this summer, giving me more mental space to focus on coding projects and I am at a better advantage to begin this fall term compared to last winter term. With your help and consideration, I will be in a better place for my education and future.

Sincerely,

Sebastian Medrea