Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To: The Associate Dean (Studies)
From: Rene Zorz, ID 20058387
Date: 03/16/2019

Re: Appeal to drop PHGY 216 (Winter 2019) and MICR 221 (Winter 2019)


In the second half of the Fall semester (2018), my energy levels started dropping significantly and I started feeling exceedingly tired, having problems concentrating and I could not motivate myself to do anything. I stopped eating either regularly or healthily and I was constantly feeling stressed and anxious, often times struggling to get out of bed, but could not figure out why. This had a negative effect on my GPA, which dropped from around 3.4 in the first year to about 2.4.

I thought that over the Christmas break I was going to get enough time to relax, recuperate and start second semester refreshed. However, the situation slowly got worse and it took me a while to realize that I needed help and support from family and professionals to get back on track.

I approached a Crisis Counselor (Tahany Okby) on the campus, who has made an appointment for me with a doctor at Wellness Centre for April 10th, which is to be followed by another appointment with mental health specialist. She gave me instructions on what to do in order to improve my sleeping and eating patterns and it is my intention to follow them as best as I can. She also advised on exercising and what to do in terms of social interactions and I am committed to following that advice as well. At this time, I am still waiting for her to write a support letter for me, which I will provide as soon as I receive it.

As the wait for the appointment would have been fairly long, today I went to my family doctor for a mental health assessment. She said that my symptoms are consistent with depression and said that it would be beneficial for me to reduce my workload. She provided me with a referral for psychotherapy and suggested a potential future prescription of antidepressants. She is willing to discuss the details of her assessment if needed and can be contacted at 905 270 3636 (Dr. Niam Adamo).

My Academic Advisor shares the opinion that I need to resolve underlying health issue and she suggested the Appeal process in order to lighten my workload until I am back on my feet again. If I'm allowed to lighten my current course load, I would plan to take two courses during the summer months (online). It is my hope that I would be back to normal by the start of the third year. I want to see my GPA back to where I know it can be.

Please be advised that prior to joining Queen's I was an IB student in one of the best high schools in Toronto and that I participated in various competitions in math and chemistry all the while competing at age group national level in swimming. I am pointing this out just because I would like to convey the fact that I am used to hard work and that I have high academic aspirations. It does not come easy to me to ask for help, but at this moment I need it in order to get through this period and I would appreciate it very much if I was allowed to drop from physiology and microbiology.

Thank you very much for consideration.

Sincerely,


Rene Zorz