Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: At the end of February 2018, my grandmother had a fall which caused her to injure herself and require a 2-month hospitalization (being hospitalized until the end of April 2018). During this time, I made weekly trips from Kingston ON to Oakville ON to help with translation in the hospital. Being a first generation Canadian, I am the only member of my family able to accurately translate doctor information to my grandmother, therefore helping to make informed decisions about next steps for her recovery. This caused a lot of extra stress and anxiety for me as not only was there a large burden placed upon me by my family, but I also needed to balance these trips with school work and studying for my final exams. This event greatly affected my academics for the two months of her hospitalization. Upon arriving back in Oakville after the Winter 2018 semester, I spoke to my family doctor about these problems, and he diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and has since put me on an anti-anxiety medication called AURO-ESCITALOPRAM, a medication I now take daily to help manage my anxiety. Since starting the medication, I have noticed a significant difference in my ability to concentrate and complete daily tasks, as well as feeling an overall sense of ease when faced with events which would usually trigger my anxiety.

I am writing this appeal to ask for all my winter 2018 courses with a final exam to be C/R, as I believe that the events mentioned above greatly impacted my ability to perform on my final exams (PSYC 231, PSYC 241, PSYC 236, ANAT 100), as well as removing my final exam from PSYC 251 so that my grade without my final exam could be my final grade instead. By looking at my final grades for the FALL 2017 semester, a great reduction in my grades is noticeable. Therefore, I was not performing at the peak ability which I would have been able to under other circumstances. I also believe that with the help of my new medication, I can help reduce my anxiety and be able to perform better for the rest of my academic career.