Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: May 22nd, 2017
Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

I am appealing to drop my marks from 2017¿¿s winter term. The courses include ANAT 100, DEVS 100B, GNDS 125, GPHY 101 and POLS 110B.
The extenuating circumstances that led my grades to drop were due to my mental health plummeting in a very drastic and uncontrollable way. From a young age, I have been struggling with my mental health and have had unfortunate circumstances that I was able to avoid dealing with until the beginning of the winter term.
I started to have night terrors that stopped me from getting a restful night of sleep. This form of anxiety was not something I was able to control and in fact caused more anxiety when I found myself exhausted and unable to focus the next day during classes. These night terrors were based off of my traumatic childhood. I found myself being scared to go to bed and instead stayed up during the time that I normally slept. During those hours, I was not able to stay productive and do my school work. Instead, I spent those hours trying to calm myself down and focus on my mental health. All of my efforts came short as my anxiety continued to worsen. I found my anxiety taking a control of my mental state and abilities when I was unable to concentrate on finishing assignments, doing readings and even participating in my tutorials. All the subjects that I loved and found so interesting just a few weeks ago in the fall semester, became terrorizing and triggering to my anxiety.
During this time, my ongoing depression made it easy to isolate myself from friends, family and resources. I struggled with being home sick, not having anyone to talk to and ultimately my academics suffered. Anxiety made it hard to sleep but my depression made it close to impossible for me to get out of bed. I would stay in my bed until dinner time while missing all my classes, meals and socializing time.
The reason why I am writing this letter is because I know I am a capable student. I love educating myself and my marks from first semester, before my anxiety and depression were as influential, show that. My mental health was not something I was able to ignore for more than one semester. I wish I had dealt with it earlier. I have worked hard to come to Queen¿¿s despite my circumstances and I will continue to work as hard as I can and maintain a good average over the next few years. But now I am at the point of the year where my marks are not good enough for me to do the Political Studies and Global Development medial or the PPE specialization program I had my heart set on. If my mental health did not impact my ability to do well in school, I know I would have been an ideal candidate for either of those second year plans. My options are now more restricted than I ever would have imagined due to something I can not even control.
My future plan from now on is to continue seeking professional help with Dr. Arunima Khanna at student wellness services. During last semester, I went to the Queen¿¿s student health services where I worked with two doctors who gave me medications to help with my night terrors and depression. I even attended a session with Freeman Woolnough in March after attempting to connect many times. I had a hard time sticking to my appointments with him due to how much anxiety the idea of counselling gave me. However, I am dedicated to seeing Dr. Arunima and will continue to make appointments with her in order to cope with my unresolved issues. I do not want a repeat of the winter term in academic career ever again. This future plan was something I have spent the last five months finding the courage to do. My circumstances have been getting better as I am taking this summer to focus on my mental health and stabilize myself so I am well prepared for this upcoming school year.
I hope this letter shows how much my mental health has impacted my academics in the winter semester. I have outlined my future plan regarding medical and counselling professionals for this summer as well as the school year to ensure that I am able to do as well as I did in first semester before my mental health was more aggressive. I am also attaching a copy of my Verification of Illness form from February, prescriptions of different medications I took over the past few months and the most recent appointment I have made with Dr. Arumina.

Sincerely,

Thaarane Sethunathan
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