Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 4362
Submitted: April 3, 2018 at 1:55:46 PM
First Name: Harini
Last Name: Thirimadura Wijeratne
Student Number: 20020993
Email: 15hstw@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BA
Plan: GPHY
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the 21-day or one term deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing to late drop STAT 263, GEOL 200 and GPHY 229 as well as wave the one term deadline and drop the courses GEOL 104 (Fall 2016), PYSCH 100 (Summer 2017) and HIST 125 (Summer 2017). My academic results in these classes inaccurately portray my attitude towards academics and will hinder my developments a student.
The beginning of my university career began on a good footing. My mental illness was under control, I was doing well in my courses, however when I went home for thanksgiving in the fall of 2016 I experienced an exceeding amount of domestic troubles. This really negatively impacted my mental health and my grades began to fall and I dropped to the minimum 3 courses to salvage what I could. Later that semester I began to get in touch with a counselor who slowly helped me. I was able to pass one course and drop another full year course, but sadly failed Geol 104. The counselling truly helped me second semester as I was able to pass all my courses. In the summer I decided to take a full course load in order to make up for the courses I had dropped during the fall and winter term. This was a mistake. There were a lot of family issues happening which caused my mental health to plummet. It did not help that I experienced a traumatic event that would later influence me in the fall term. The stresses were so bad that I had no motivation to do any of my course work including tests and assignments. Unsurprisingly I failed both the summer courses. The fall semester of 2017 began badly. There was an issue with my OSAP and it seemed like I would be unable to pay tuition, the family trouble from the summer including new financial difficulties, and influence from the summer trauma all came and hit me. It was extremely bad, one of the lowest points in my life. Nothing seemed to matter anymore, every small task took a great deal of effort and I was ready for it all to end. To top it all off my counsellor was in the process of retiring so we were unable to meet during that time. I did not attend any of my classes that semester. Through the help of friends and the decreased influence from my family I got to a point where I was able to go out and get professional help. I sought out academic accessibility, and saw psychiatrist with whom I adjusted my medication. I was also able to sort out the issue with OSAP. Though I believe these were the right steps, they were not enough to help me pass the fall term.
Moving forward this semester I began meeting with a new counselor, who is helping me move past my traumatic experience, my interactions with my family are more limited and I am taking the adjusted medications all which making a positive impact on me. Due to these supports I am projecting to get all Bs or higher this semester. I also plan on implanting several items in order to make sure that I can be successful in my future courses and cope better with my mental health. To begin with for my mental health I will be attending a Managing Powerful Emotions workshop in the upcoming fall term that will last for 12 weeks. This program is created to teach coping mechanisms and to build resilience against outside influences that can disrupt one's mental health. Attending this workshop will not only positively impact my mental health but also my academics. I also plan on meeting with someone from SASS to organize my work and set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Reasonable and Timely) goals. I plan to reach out for help at the beginning of the semester rather than waiting until things get bad. This includes keeping open communication with my professors, accessibility advisor and counselor. Finally I plan to take a lighter course load from the beginning of the semester.
All these external and internal factors, outside my control, acted as stressors and really affected how I coped and caused my academics to fall, but now after getting months of medical attention, the right medication and learning how to deal with these stressors, I'm now able to able to succeed in school, given my current record in this semester, despite that many of these stressors continue to be part of my daily life. I hope you can help me as I step forward towards a better and brighter future.
Thank you,
Harini Thirimadura Wijeratne
I am appealing to late drop STAT 263, GEOL 200 and GPHY 229 as well as wave the one term deadline and drop the courses GEOL 104 (Fall 2016), PYSCH 100 (Summer 2017) and HIST 125 (Summer 2017). My academic results in these classes inaccurately portray my attitude towards academics and will hinder my developments a student.
The beginning of my university career began on a good footing. My mental illness was under control, I was doing well in my courses, however when I went home for thanksgiving in the fall of 2016 I experienced an exceeding amount of domestic troubles. This really negatively impacted my mental health and my grades began to fall and I dropped to the minimum 3 courses to salvage what I could. Later that semester I began to get in touch with a counselor who slowly helped me. I was able to pass one course and drop another full year course, but sadly failed Geol 104. The counselling truly helped me second semester as I was able to pass all my courses. In the summer I decided to take a full course load in order to make up for the courses I had dropped during the fall and winter term. This was a mistake. There were a lot of family issues happening which caused my mental health to plummet. It did not help that I experienced a traumatic event that would later influence me in the fall term. The stresses were so bad that I had no motivation to do any of my course work including tests and assignments. Unsurprisingly I failed both the summer courses. The fall semester of 2017 began badly. There was an issue with my OSAP and it seemed like I would be unable to pay tuition, the family trouble from the summer including new financial difficulties, and influence from the summer trauma all came and hit me. It was extremely bad, one of the lowest points in my life. Nothing seemed to matter anymore, every small task took a great deal of effort and I was ready for it all to end. To top it all off my counsellor was in the process of retiring so we were unable to meet during that time. I did not attend any of my classes that semester. Through the help of friends and the decreased influence from my family I got to a point where I was able to go out and get professional help. I sought out academic accessibility, and saw psychiatrist with whom I adjusted my medication. I was also able to sort out the issue with OSAP. Though I believe these were the right steps, they were not enough to help me pass the fall term.
Moving forward this semester I began meeting with a new counselor, who is helping me move past my traumatic experience, my interactions with my family are more limited and I am taking the adjusted medications all which making a positive impact on me. Due to these supports I am projecting to get all Bs or higher this semester. I also plan on implanting several items in order to make sure that I can be successful in my future courses and cope better with my mental health. To begin with for my mental health I will be attending a Managing Powerful Emotions workshop in the upcoming fall term that will last for 12 weeks. This program is created to teach coping mechanisms and to build resilience against outside influences that can disrupt one's mental health. Attending this workshop will not only positively impact my mental health but also my academics. I also plan on meeting with someone from SASS to organize my work and set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Reasonable and Timely) goals. I plan to reach out for help at the beginning of the semester rather than waiting until things get bad. This includes keeping open communication with my professors, accessibility advisor and counselor. Finally I plan to take a lighter course load from the beginning of the semester.
All these external and internal factors, outside my control, acted as stressors and really affected how I coped and caused my academics to fall, but now after getting months of medical attention, the right medication and learning how to deal with these stressors, I'm now able to able to succeed in school, given my current record in this semester, despite that many of these stressors continue to be part of my daily life. I hope you can help me as I step forward towards a better and brighter future.
Thank you,
Harini Thirimadura Wijeratne
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: Letter from Counselor