Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Associate Dean (Studies)
Dunning Hall
94 University Ave
Queen¿¿s University
To whom it may concern,
My name is Leah Haller-Watters. This year, my third consecutively, I was admitted into
the Classical Studies program. I was overjoyed to receive this news in the summer, as I thought
finally finding a place and a program I was passionate about at Queen¿¿s would fix the problems I
had been experiencing from the start of my first year. It surprised me to find that despite a
hopeful start and my best efforts, that by the end of October I was behind and struggling to wade
through my depressive episodes. Since first year I¿¿ve struggled financially to accommodate
living away from home, even with grants and the university's best efforts to lighten my woes. To exacerbate that, I found little company even living in residence and fell into a long bout of isolation. I had trouble making connections, and with a lack of friends came a lack of
stimulation. I had no comfort and very little support in Kingston, leaving me feeling hopeless
and distraught. Despite these difficulties, I trudged on through my first two years with varying results, occasionally earning good grades. Home visits had become a source of pain as I very much did not want to leave Ottawa to return to school. This resulted in prolonged visits in the name of mental health and, as such, missed classes. January of 2019, my father began suffering from nameless health issues and frequent hospital visits. This has only gotten worse with time, and in October he went in for an exploratory surgery. To make matters worse, the mental health of my family has been getting steadily worse, and I frequently have to assist them with their own bills as well as mine, causing me to have even less money and more worries. I am writing this appeal in the hopes that I will be able to drop my entire Fall 2019 course load. I haven¿¿t been focused or able to fix my grades, and, at the point of this letter, have missed my exams. The worries of failing school and having these marks permanently on my transcript have not helped with my mental health to say the least.
I have suffered from depression since my first year of high school and have been on
Prozac since grade 11. I saw a social worker for therapy throughout high school, but as I have
mentioned, my family isn¿¿t in good monetary standing and I no longer have the means to see a
therapist. With my marks dropped I would also be removing my courses for next semester in the
hopes of taking time off and working to gain some stability. I am currently working a full time
job and am working on a plan with my family doctor to secure therapy for the future. With my
support system in Ottawa, I don¿¿t see returning to Kingston or Queen¿¿s as a feasible option for
the time being, and I hope to gain some insight into what I'd like to do with my future. Having
these marks docked from my transcript would be an enormous burden lifted as school is certainly
something I¿¿ve always cared about and I¿¿m sure in some form, it is in my future. I hope to move
forward with as much hope and ability as possible.
I hope you will consider my appeal.
Sincerely,
Leah Haller-Watters
20073004