Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am writing to you to appeal for credit standing for CHEM 282, which I took in the Winter term of 2019, and received a passing grade of D. I previously appealed for credit standing for CHEM 281 (5567), and this appeal was granted on May 16, 2019. I would like to note that I decided to not add CHEM 282 in my original appeal, because I submitted the appeal in April 2019, and had not written my final exam yet, thus it was unclear to me where I was standing in the class. However, my decision to appeal CHEM 282 is for many of the same reasons, which I will outline in this letter. In my initial appeal, I spoke of how in the Fall of 2018 I became very ill with Iron Deficiency Anemia, that greatly fatigued me and took a negative toll on my physical and mental health. I had also begun a medication in October of 2018, which further lead to my health's decline. These issues unfortunately continued to persist for the duration of my second semester. To be pro-active, I decided to take the majority (3/5 classes) online in second semester, rather than reducing my course load, as I did in first semester. This allowed me to focus more on my health, and work at my own pace. I began a supplementation in November 2018 and discontinued my medication in late 2018. I did not see improvement for months; thus, I increased the dosage of supplementation. I found that my side effects were not improving, and I was experiencing high blood pressure, which caused frequent panic attacks that lead me to lose sleep and further contributed to my fatigue. I found that I was struggling again to balance my health and my academics, so I sought out the help of a tutor from the chemistry department for CHEM 282 in late January of 2019. We met on a weekly basis for two months, however, at this point I was struggling to even get out of bed. I made the choice to prioritize the classes I knew that I could succeed in, as these are core classes to my degree program, such as BIOL 206, which I received a B in. Based on the grades I received last semester, the final grade I received for CHEM 282 is the outlier, and certainly does not speak to my academic abilities. It was to my naiveté that I thought my health concerns would dissipate so rapidly. I have included supporting documentation for your review from Dr. Sandra Welihinda, who I regularly saw at LaSalle clinic, as well as from my mother, who witnessed my decline in my well-being. I am now entering my third year at Queen's and would like more than anything to begin the year with a clean slate. As the end of summer nears, and I finally feel that I am autonomous of my past health concerns. I have taken a class this summer to make up for the lightened course load I took in first semester of second year and have focused on my health and well-being. I can confidently say that I have a successful management plan for my anemia going forward.

Sincerely,
Alexa Fiorante