Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 6139
Submitted: September 6, 2019 at 4:01:45 PM
First Name: Jessica
Last Name: Niskanen
Student Number: 20063795
Email: 16jdn1@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BSH
Plan: BIPS
Level of Study: 3
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: BIOL 243
Term: Fall
Year: 2018
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: PSYC 221
Term: Winter
Year: 2019
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies,
I am appealing to drop BIOL 243 (Fall, 2018) and PSYC 221 (Winter, 2019) after the academic drop deadline.
In the Fall 2019 semester, I was engaged in a serious situation with the Kingston Police in regard to a stalker. This situation ran the course of October 2018-December 2018, making it not possible for me to finish a few of my fall midterms and fall exams (including BIOL 243). These exams (5 in total) that I did not complete fell through onto the winter 2019 semester. In December 2018, I was also diagnosed with a new, serious, long-term mental illness (Bipolar I disorder) that disabled me from completing a few of my December 2018 final exams as well. Both these situations affected me in the long term and were severe in nature. Going into the winter semester, I had 3 outstanding fall exams and 2 outstanding fall midterms. In January 2019, when I was scheduled to write the BIOL 243 final exam, I was admitted into Hotel Dieu (the hospital) into the psych ward and was forced to stay there on form for a mandatory 72 hours because I was deemed a threat to the public. There was no other rewrite date set by the professor (except the one I missed) that I was able to write. Due to this extenuating, personal circumstance both with the Toronto Police and with the long-term mental illness hospitalization/diagnosis, I was severely impacted and therefore missed the opportunity to write my BIOL 243 exam. After my hospitalization, I experienced brain trauma and memory loss which impaired my learning and critical thinking skills, making studying and remembering information very difficult. In the Winter 2019 semester, my memory capabilities and critical thinking skills started to improve after the trauma from January 2019. Although they were improving, courses that included a lot of content were not easy for me as I had a very difficult time remembering conceptual/theoretical information. This is what the case was for PSYC 221. It was very conceptual with a lot of theory involved that I was not capable of remembering. My other 3 winter 2019 semester courses were very application based and I was able to keep up due to the fact that they were not conceptual with a lot of information. At the winter drop date, I did drop PSYC 215 which was also very conceptual, but I chose not to drop PSYC 221 due to the fact that I did not want to be so far behind. Since 4 of my fall semester courses were also not yet complete, I did have the burden of completing them as well as tending to my 4 winter semester courses. This made it impossible for me to understand and remember PSYC 221¿¿s theoretical basis of information as I did not have the mental capability to do so. I cannot currently finish the course as my brain has not fully healed and is not able to remember such a broad amount of theory. Over the course of both semesters, with an unfinished fall semester, incidence with the Kingston Police, a new diagnosis, and a serious psychotic brain trauma, this is why I was unable to finish both PSYC 221 and BIOL 243.
In response to this extenuating personal circumstance, I have planned out my next two years at Queen¿¿s very thoroughly, making sure I have application-based courses until my brain is able to fully heal. I have made appointments with student services to help me plan my degree to enable me to finish it in 5 years. I also continuously take an anti-psychotic medication to keep symptoms at bay/maintain my health and have monthly appointments with my therapist (Martha) and my psychiatrist. For future studies, I plan on staying up to date by studying before and after lectures, as well as create practice quizzes for myself to help with my memory. This will keep my brain active regarding the information and will allow for better retention of material. This will allow me to maintain my academic goals and allow my mental state to continue improving. My future plan has my brain on track to be healed fully in the next few months, allowing me to maintain my academic goals with a more application-based course-load and excel in my studies.
I hope you take my request into consideration as this year has been very rocky for me. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Jessica Niskanen
I am appealing to drop BIOL 243 (Fall, 2018) and PSYC 221 (Winter, 2019) after the academic drop deadline.
In the Fall 2019 semester, I was engaged in a serious situation with the Kingston Police in regard to a stalker. This situation ran the course of October 2018-December 2018, making it not possible for me to finish a few of my fall midterms and fall exams (including BIOL 243). These exams (5 in total) that I did not complete fell through onto the winter 2019 semester. In December 2018, I was also diagnosed with a new, serious, long-term mental illness (Bipolar I disorder) that disabled me from completing a few of my December 2018 final exams as well. Both these situations affected me in the long term and were severe in nature. Going into the winter semester, I had 3 outstanding fall exams and 2 outstanding fall midterms. In January 2019, when I was scheduled to write the BIOL 243 final exam, I was admitted into Hotel Dieu (the hospital) into the psych ward and was forced to stay there on form for a mandatory 72 hours because I was deemed a threat to the public. There was no other rewrite date set by the professor (except the one I missed) that I was able to write. Due to this extenuating, personal circumstance both with the Toronto Police and with the long-term mental illness hospitalization/diagnosis, I was severely impacted and therefore missed the opportunity to write my BIOL 243 exam. After my hospitalization, I experienced brain trauma and memory loss which impaired my learning and critical thinking skills, making studying and remembering information very difficult. In the Winter 2019 semester, my memory capabilities and critical thinking skills started to improve after the trauma from January 2019. Although they were improving, courses that included a lot of content were not easy for me as I had a very difficult time remembering conceptual/theoretical information. This is what the case was for PSYC 221. It was very conceptual with a lot of theory involved that I was not capable of remembering. My other 3 winter 2019 semester courses were very application based and I was able to keep up due to the fact that they were not conceptual with a lot of information. At the winter drop date, I did drop PSYC 215 which was also very conceptual, but I chose not to drop PSYC 221 due to the fact that I did not want to be so far behind. Since 4 of my fall semester courses were also not yet complete, I did have the burden of completing them as well as tending to my 4 winter semester courses. This made it impossible for me to understand and remember PSYC 221¿¿s theoretical basis of information as I did not have the mental capability to do so. I cannot currently finish the course as my brain has not fully healed and is not able to remember such a broad amount of theory. Over the course of both semesters, with an unfinished fall semester, incidence with the Kingston Police, a new diagnosis, and a serious psychotic brain trauma, this is why I was unable to finish both PSYC 221 and BIOL 243.
In response to this extenuating personal circumstance, I have planned out my next two years at Queen¿¿s very thoroughly, making sure I have application-based courses until my brain is able to fully heal. I have made appointments with student services to help me plan my degree to enable me to finish it in 5 years. I also continuously take an anti-psychotic medication to keep symptoms at bay/maintain my health and have monthly appointments with my therapist (Martha) and my psychiatrist. For future studies, I plan on staying up to date by studying before and after lectures, as well as create practice quizzes for myself to help with my memory. This will keep my brain active regarding the information and will allow for better retention of material. This will allow me to maintain my academic goals and allow my mental state to continue improving. My future plan has my brain on track to be healed fully in the next few months, allowing me to maintain my academic goals with a more application-based course-load and excel in my studies.
I hope you take my request into consideration as this year has been very rocky for me. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Jessica Niskanen
Documentation
Professional Letter: Scan 4-4.jpeg
