Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Thursday, March 5th, 2020 Dr. Johanne Bérnard
Dear Dr. Johanne Bérnard;
Duncan McArthur Hall
511 Union Street, Queen's University
Kingston ON K7M5R7
I am writing to you to appeal Queen¿¿s University for credit standing in courses I took in my earlier years as a Queen¿¿s Student. These courses are Biol 102/103, Geol 104, Math 121, Chem 112, Clst 214, Gphy 102, Devs 220, Musc 171, Rels 162, Ensc 301, Ensc 321, and Gphy 304.
I suffered from undiagnosed depression and anxiety throughout the majority of my university career. A lack of understanding of what was causing my struggles made finding specific avenues for improvement very difficult and left me with a sense of inadequacy and hopelessness. This made academic success almost impossible; given my personal struggles and the often impersonal and overwhelmingly large classes at the 100 and 200 levels, I felt isolated and unable to develop a rapport with TAs or professors. These experiences are reflected in my grades, for example in Math 121 - which was heavily focused on recurring unit tests and in-class group tutorials. My anxiety would not only make effective studying extremely difficult given the mental distractions it causes, but also exacerbated problems of insomnia. This would cause me to be delirious and debilitated by the time the test came around. These experiences would only compile on each other, each contributing to an overall sense of dread and depression over my failing circumstances. I also found my communication skills and ability to collaborate with other students to be impaired by my self-consciousness over how my value to the group would be perceived, leading to increasing feelings of depression and social isolation. This example of my experience in Math 121 was just one of the many courses in which my mental health profoundly impacted my ability to succeed. As you can see by my transcript, there were other instances in which my grades reflected the many problems I was facing. Despite these obstacles, I still managed to achieve an overall GPA of 2.12 and have never failed a course during my time at Queen¿¿s.
Once again, what I am asking for in this appeal is the university to acknowledge and endorse the improvements I have made since this time. I would like to stress that with the help I have gotten and am continuing to receive, both medical and emotional, I have and will continue to prove that I am a fully capable student in my final years and that I can be a someone the university is proud of. I have taken steps over the summer and throughout this year to guarantee my success. I am receiving ongoing counselling and medical treatment, additionally, I have alerted my close family and friends to my struggles in order to strengthen my emotional support system and allow myself to ask for help in improving my mental health. I have redoubled my academic efforts and continue to make strides towards better time- management and strategic study strategies, given what my academic shortcomings have taught me thus far. This commitment to beating my past mistakes and constantly striving for improvement has already manifested itself on my transcript.
I don¿¿t wish to be handed my degree, however I hope to be afforded the opportunity to prove I can earn it. I hope that my efforts towards self-improvement and academic dedication weren¿¿t for nothing. What I ask of you in this appeal is to have my grades (in courses listedabove) ruled as credit, so that my GPA would rise to a position which would better reflect the level of success that I have achieved after confronting my illness and using that to better myself as not only a person, but as a student of Queen¿¿s University.
Thank you for your consideration,
Liam Shaw
14ls50@queensu.ca or 416-720-2445
80 Chatham Street, Unit 4
Kingston, Ontario
Canada