Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Petition Committee,

My name is Mahad Abdirahman, and I am a Biology student here at Queen's University. I am writing to petition for a late drop of the courses I took during the Winter 2021 semester, and the reasons as to why I was unable to complete the petition within the 1 year timeframe. In order to best explain my situation, I would have to go back to my first year at Queens which was Fall 2015.

In November of 2015 my father who lived full time in Minneapolis, Minnesota had his first stroke. My mother who was with him at the time told me that he was recovering and that I should wait and come to visit him during the winter break. So I completed my fall exams and took the first flight to see him. During that time he had recovered about 80%, however he began to complain of a never ending cough that he’d been struggling with for a few months. Unfortunately, after some tests were done, in January it turned out he had stage 4 lung cancer. He was admitted to the hospital at the beginning of February where he started chemotherapy and radiation. Within a month my father was intubated and had succumbed to the disease on May 15th, 2016. Losing a parent is something no one is ever truly prepared for, nor is the lifelong grief that follows. While my father was intubated, my mother and I would rotate and stay at his bedside and I would talk to him hoping he’d hear me. Amongst the various things I said to him, I promised him 2 things: 1-That I will graduate and become successful. 2- That I will always be there for our family if anyone needs anything.

Despite everything that happened in my first year, I still pushed myself far past what I was capable of and tried to work through the grief and depression throughout my undergrad. Then in 2020 covid hit and the lockdowns began. I decided to head to Ottawa to help my grandmother, but I was unaware of how bad her dementia was. Over the months, I witnessed my grandmother deteriorate, something I struggled seeing as she was the one who raised me while my mother was in school. Throughout covid I became my grandmother's caretaker, aiding her in anything and everything, from getting dressed to eating, using the bathroom and reading out her favourite books. I never saw any of this as a burden, I saw it as a responsibility and a blessing to help the one who helped raise me, and keeping the promise to my father. During all of these times I was fully enrolled in classes that I barely had the time to study for and I had completely lost the sense of time during those months. The isolation and caregiving responsibilities, coupled with the fresh grief from my father's death was overwhelming. In hindsight, I realize I should have communicated my situation to the university. However, I believed I could manage both my grandmother's care and my studies. Unfortunately, my grades for those semesters were marked as incomplete and later changed to failing grades.

I respectfully request the university to consider my late dropping of those courses from my transcript, allowing me to graduate. I loved my time at Queen's University, it’s been my dream institution ever since I was a little boy, and I am determined to complete my degree to make my family and myself proud.

Thank you for your consideration, I appreciate you all taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Mahad Abdirahman
SN:10182114