Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Good afternoon,
I am writing to you today, as a student of the Bachelor of Health Sciences program, to request an appeal to have my courses for the Winter 2018/2019 dropped without penalty (GLPH171, GLPH271, MICR270, BIOL243, and SOCY122), as I have faced a lot of traumatic circumstances this term, and I have been unable to complete my courses as a result. Early on in the term I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing my neighbour overdose on heroin and the impact that this traumatic situation had on her children, who were also present at the time (they sought help for their mom from myself and another neighbour, while I was out walking my dog). This experience was incredibly traumatic, and I struggled immensely with processing it, resulting in an inability to sleep or focus on my school studies. A couple of weeks later, my partner of a year left me unexpectedly and without any closure, and then it came to light that he had been cheating on me, which further traumatized me. As my life was also very much scheduled around my partner's schedule, the loss of him along side the depression and anxiety leftover from the trauma of the previous month made it very difficult to find time to address my mental health and regenerate a proper school schedule. At this point (early February), I reached out to Queen's Therapist Tess Grant to help process the trauma and seek the required documentation for academic accommodations, as I had hoped that with some accommodations and some time, things would improve, and I could catch up on my classes. At the time, I really wanted to be strong and push through the term, as I am funded by OSAP and I feared the consequences of dropping my classes and what that would mean in terms of being able to afford to live during the term while single parenting my 4 children. In the previous term, I dealt with some hardships as my mom struggled with alcoholism, and so I believed at the time that I could make it through this term, as well. Unfortunately, as the term went on, things did not improve, and in fact, got worse. Additionally, the loss of my mom in the previous term really caught up with me as I faced trauma this term, and I struggled even more to process things without her. At the end of February my kids and I had to relocate for 2 weeks while a suspicious situation transpired in my housing survey that required police involvement. Several men had been watching my children and I, as well as the neighbour who had helped my other neighbour (which resulted in the addicted neighbour having her children removed) and the police could not identify who they were. It was feared for a time that they may be linked to gang activity, and that my neighbour (who was, at that point, away at rehab) may have been acting in vengeance towards us due to the removal of her children, as she has a history of vengeful behaviour. This further disrupted my school schedule, as I had my children home with me 100 of the time in that two week period as the police were investigating the situation, and we were staying with a friend so they required very close supervision to ensure their safety in a house that was not childproofed. I was also focusing a portion of my time on searching for new housing options, as I was concerned that we would need to move if the situation did not resolve. Despite that, I still attempted to complete my coursework, and requested several academic accommodations from my professors, who kindly provided them for me. Later in the term (just prior to finals), I also contacted my professors to see if there was any additional coursework I could do to improve my grades, as I was previously an A student and I have dreams of going to medical school, so I was really trying to ensure one bad term didn't affect my entire future. At that time, my MICR270 professor suggested an academic drop without penalty, and started the process internally with the BHSC program assistant. Later that week, my father was hospitalized for a stroke, and it was then discovered that (due to a genetic condition we both have called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) he has two cerebral aneurysms that are inoperable, a dilated aortic root, and a blood clot in his brain that needed to be dissolved. As a result, he was hospitalized for a large period of time, and it was then that I decided that I would seek a drop for all of my courses (except ENIN140, as I was nearly done it) so that I could spend those weeks with my dad, in case the worst occurred. I then followed the instructions requested of me to have all my professors sign approval of the drop, but unfortunately I am discovering now (approximately 3 weeks after I submitted the initial paperwork) that the process I was instructed to do was not the appropriate process to drop my courses late, and I am now even more concerned about my grades, as I didn't do any final projects or exams, as I was under the impression that the drops were being processed and I no longer had to be worried about those classes this term. I have since reached out to Tess Grant to seek some documentation of our discussions as a form of proof to include with this letter, but I wanted to submit the letter in the meantime to start the process, as the term is quickly coming to an end, and I fear I have done irreparable damage to my GPA now, and I'll have no time to resolve it if I don't act quickly. Unfortunately, I will not be able to see my doctor until the end of May (the earliest appointment I could get) if any further documentation is required, so I was hoping that documentation from Tess, along side the emails to my professors would be sufficient evidence. However, if more is required, I would be more than happy to do whatever I can to obtain it for you. I apologize greatly for the very lengthy letter, and I appreciate immensely that you have taken the time to read this. I would be incredibly grateful if my appeal to have my courses dropped without penalty could be granted, as I truly am a good student and I genuinely tried my best this term. I really don't want the circumstances of this term to affect my ability to apply to medical school in the future. As things are now improving with my dad, and I finally have the time to process all that has happened this term, I really long to put this past term behind me so I can confidently move into the summer term and re-establish a proper schedule of schooling and self-care, ensuring future success. I fear that if I am required to make-up my coursework and take the exam from the past term, while also heading into the summer term, that I will once again feel overwhelmed. I truly believe that my best course of action at this time is to move forward into some manageable summer electives to re-establish a school routine, and then take the core courses from this past term during my Fall 2019 semester. Additionally, I plan to seek out a better support system for this summer and fall (specifically, a form of childcare), and attend counselling services now that I've obtained my status card and have coverage for them through Indian Affairs, so that I can ensure that any circumstances that may arise in the future will not affect me as I've been affected this past term.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Kyra Sewell

(289)-456-0171