Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Greetings Dr Atkinson,

I wish to request a late drop of a course (BIOL 205) from my transcript from the fall term of 2017 due to extenuating circumstances, which are explained in further detail below, and will be supported by documentation provided by my counselor Whitney Babcock of the Student Wellness Services department at Queen¿¿s.

I am a 36 year old undergraduate student registered with QSAS because I have issues with depression and anxiety. These issues are of concern but not the entire reason I am requesting this late drop. I hope you will understand my reasoning and grant me permission to move forward with this process, thank you for taking the time to review my request, and explanation which follows:
Firstly, my mother passed away in Pembroke Ontario, during my first year here at Queen's (2015/16) while I was writing my winter term exams (April 2016) after having been ill through the fall leading up to Christmas. She died without having dealt with the estate of my grandmother who passed away in late 2014. My uncle decided to renounce executorship, and it was left to me to be the executor of both estates, having to deal with legal processes etc. throughout 2016 and 2017. I was not named in my grandmother¿¿s will; because of this fact I had to go through the process of being appointed by the court, which required traveling to Pembroke a number of times, for various reasons. I finally assumed executorship of my grandmother¿¿s estate in July of 2017 and was finally able to move forward with things, such as paying bills, clearing out the house in preparation for sale 3-4 days a week during July and August, selling the house etc. I had initially been overly optimistic in hoping that all of this could be taken care of prior to returning to school in September of 2017, but soon realized that would not be possible. The whole process bled well into mid term, which meant more traveling to Pembroke, showing the house, signing documents, and helping my uncle remove the remainder of his things from the house to his home. This made for an extremely tough schedule, trying to arrange meetings etc. 3+ hours away, while trying to attend classes, allow time for study and complete assignments.

Along with the issues above, I have run a small business for the last few years. In the spring of 2017 during the exam period, the location of my business experienced a major fire. The ownership of the property then changed hands in October of 2017. This meant I had to deal with packing up and moving my shop in its entirety by the end of November 2017. To make matters worse the storage unit I had arranged for was delayed by 2 weeks, which set me back in my schedule and meant more had to be done in a shorter period.

There were other smaller matters occurring during the fall term of 2017 which caused performance issues academically for me. Including some major issues with my car, which finally culminated in the transmission failing. This left me dependant entirely on my partner for transportation, and meant investing in a new vehicle.

I was also starting to feel wholly overwhelmed by the entire situation surrounding my life which began in late 2015 when my mother became ill. 2016 saw the death of my mother, my taking responsibility of 2 estates to be dealt with, the falling apart of a 4 year relationship, moving twice, and somehow maintaining myself through the school year, in other words a lot of stress¿ 2017 began with less turmoil, but much more in the way of legal and banking issues and much waiting around for things to happen. When it finally did happen in July of 2017 that I could finally begin work on my grandmother¿¿s estate, I was in a mad rush to try to get things done.
I had been under a lot of pressure, and had so much to deal with over the past 2 years I was finally beginning to break down, which is why I sought counselling at Queen¿¿s. During the fall term of 2017 I would find myself breaking out into tears for no reason at inappropriate times, and being emotionally unstable in general. I was trying my best to keep things together, but definitely found my performance academically was slipping. I did manage to succeed in passing two of the three classes I had in my schedule, but was unable to keep up with everything required to pass BIOL 205 unfortunately.

I plan to retake BIOL 205 at the next available opportunity, and believe I will have greater success this time around. I ask that you please consider granting me the option of dropping the failing mark from my transcript so that I can move forward with my academic career and put the events of the last few years behind me.

Sincerily,
Adam Schizkoske SID: 10038405