Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,
My name is Jacob Baines and I am petitioning to the Faculty of Arts and Science with the hopes of a late course drop for the course FILM 240 (Media and Popular Culture) in the winter 2024 semester.
Throughout the beginning of the Winter 2024 semester (December 2023 - April 2024) I unfortunately dealt with mental health illness. During said period of time, I found it extremely difficult to deal with both day-to-day tasks and coursework. Although both aspects of my life were very difficult, I attempted to keep up with my daily tasks, however, my ability to maintain a high level of professional work depleted which further made the situation more and more difficult. Throughout this period of time, I sought services with a registered clinical social worker to support me in addressing my presenting mental health concerns. As I endeavored on my recovery, I found completing coursework difficult especially the ones without any sort of flexibility. The coursework in which flexibility such as grace periods were provided was much easier to complete as the additional time helped me gather myself and correct many of the mistakes I made throughout said content.
During the time in which I faced mental health issues, I was enrolled in 4 courses (HLTH 237, HLTH 200, MUSC 171, and FILM 240). I am petitioning for the FILM 240 course specifically because of the structure of the coursework and my overall focus on said course. The content within the FILM 240 course was structured completely differently from that of my other courses. Although for major assignments, a grace period was provided, the other coursework including quizzes, tests, and collaboration-focused elements such as discussion posts had a strict deadline which I was only aware of towards the beginning of the winter exam season. This made completing said tasks much more difficult as I had to have much more of a focus on quizzes and tests and was simply unaware of the importance of the discussion posts. Also, during this time, my other 3 courses took a much larger piece of my focus as they were correlated to my ideal Health Studies major and thus further pushed back my focus on the FILM 240 course. During the end of the winter 2024 semester, the FILM 240 course required coursework referred to as “Mastery Questions” where a student would have to answer a question asked by the Professors and Teaching Assistants and then reply to other students' answers in a multitude of ways. Since the Mastery Questions were in discussion post form being required through the busy season of the semester I decided to prioritize the small amount of focus I had whilst enduring previously mentioned mental health issues on larger assignments through many of my other courses and a key focus on exams. Thus not completing said discussion posts heavily affected my final grade despite many other assignments carrying less weight with higher marks.
Following the winter 2024 semester, I continue to try to recover from my mental health issues. Despite my challenges throughout the 2023/24 year, I still thoroughly enjoyed my year at Queen’s University, especially regarding my transition into the Health Studies major. I believe I can continue to achieve success throughout my program with the support of the Faculty of Arts and Science and the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies where I will work hard and diligently as a Queen’s University student.