Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern:

I, Amanda Norris, student number 10143376, am filing an appeal in requests to drop a course without academic penalty past the designated academic deadline, as well as to request credit standing (CR) in another course. The course that I am seeking to rid of is MATH126, whereas the course that I am seeking to receive a CR in is ENGL100.

The reason for said appeal deals greatly with extenuating circumstances surrounding the passing of multiple loved ones throughout the course of the 2015/2016 academic year, as well as not having access to the required supports that were needed in order to perform as well academically as possible. However, other instances that generated uncontrollable emotional difficulties, such as being in a relationship with an unfaithful partner and being sexually harassed, also resulted in me not being able to excel academically.

Coping with the passing of six loved ones from my hometown, all at staggered times throughout the period of the school year, has hindered my ability to concentrate fully on multiple school tasks that had been assigned, mostly due to the emotional distance and isolation that I began to feel. The constant stream of grief was greater within the first semester, as that is when the events began occurring. However, as time went on, I gained the capabilities to cope with the issues and difficulties at hand with a greater sense of ease, as is evident with my second semester courses being much stronger. Throughout the first semester, I experienced difficulties attending classes, completing assignments, and studying and performing well on examinations due to these psychological challenges.

The issues that were faced created a greater sense of anxiety to be present, on top of a pre-existing diagnosis of anxiety. A lack of resources available within the wanted time frame made dealing with these issues extremely difficult. The heightened levels of anxiety that were experienced made attending classes, especially relating to my ENGL100 tutorials, to be increasingly difficult.

For the request of a CR in ENGL100, I am aware of the fact that it is a requirement to have passed every assigned task throughout the term. However, I did not receive a passing grade on one of the evaluations ¿¿ which was the midterm exam in December. The mark received on that examination was partially due to these heightened levels of anxiety that I was facing, due to the fact that I was struggling greatly with English at the time, putting a lot of pressure on it, and the general test anxiety that I experience.

Additionally during this time frame, I was dealing with an absence of medication that is needed to treat my ADHD. The absence of this medication alone made concentrating on schoolwork to be an extremely difficult task due to the symptoms of ADHD, which already includes lowered levels of attentiveness. I did not have my medication beginning halfway through the Fall semester up until just proceeding reading week of the Winter semester, which included the December examination period. A lack of required medication, as well as the emotional difficulties at the time of exams in December of 2015 resulted in extremely poor performances in the examinations of the entirety of my courses.

As for MATH126, the distressing events that were occurring concurrently with the course made staying on top of weekly assignments and homework to be a hassle, let alone being able to commit any extra time to studying ¿¿ which is generally needed for math-based courses. This ended up accumulating over time, resulting in an extremely unsatisfactory grade, which is in no way a true reflection of my full academic potential. I am seeking to rid of this course due to the fact that I was unable to stay on-track with it due to being preoccupied with the other events that were occurring and the impacts that they placed on me. As well, the major that I am planning to pursue does not require this course specifically as a prerequisite, therefore it would be impartial to whether the credit was completed/received.

In order to deal with these extenuating circumstances, I enrolled in the Bounce Back program, saw a residence counsellor, became more adamant on getting my medication prescribed again, and began surrounding myself with more positive influences. Most of these changes began in the Winter term and ended up resulting in great changes in my academic performance, as is noticeable when comparing grades from the courses that I was enrolled in in the first semester versus the courses that I was enrolled in during the second semester. Unfortunately, the impact from my personal struggles within the first semester left my GPA for the courses previously listed to be practically unsalvageable. I tried as much as I possibly could to improve upon my GPA within the second semester, however, it was already past the point of being recoverable.

I am aware that my appeal is being submitted later than it could have been, however, I was unaware that academic appeals were possible. As well, I attempted to improve upon my marks in MATH126 and ENGL100 as much as I possibly could. Unfortunately, the repercussions of the previous difficulties created unrealistic and unobtainable goals to be met in order to mend the damage.

I would like to thank you in advance for looking over my situation.

Sincerely,
Amanda Norris
10143376