Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Queen¿¿s Appeal Board,

I am writing you to ask forgiveness for my academic and financial challenges in second year and to explain what occurred during this time.

During second year I fell into a depression that completely debilitated me. I had trouble leaving my room and shut myself away from the world which is not a behaviour Ive noticed any other time in my life. This darkness made me miss classes, cry frequently, and made me loose sight of the light in life.

I lost focus and purpose and was so stressed I could not move forward. I did not party or do drugs or anything that would be normally associated with this kind of performance. I simply lost touch with friends and school and became isolated in my room depressed, anxious and sick while everything passed me by. I attempted to get help in the form of contacting councillors at student wellness and seeking help through extra assistance with exams but the answer to the problem needed more attention.

Half way through the year the situation became so hard to deal with that I left for home and my parents took care of me and helped me find normalcy and self care techniques. I also have started therapy and tried different paths to finding a way out of my funk. Anxiety and depression are still things that I am dealing with but I am working on not letting them shut me away from the world and my higher goals.

This issue is what caused me to fail my classes, loose my relationship to my girlfriend, and has been the main thing shutting me off from what I want to do. Those who were close to me are able to attest that I was not myself and my parents made multiple trips from Peterborough to check in on me. They ended up having to pick me up at Christmas. To further complicate matters, I was dealing with a chronic illness that caused me to have recurring fevers every couple of weeks. I have recently had a new treatment for it and have had positive results from it.

My housing situation ended up being a disaster and my roommates did not share the same need for a clean space as I did. There were a number of factors including lack of cleanliness, lighting, and overall cold that made it hard to see my way out of things. My room became a safe haven from the world around me and I lost a lot of weight and found it harder and harder to leave my safe space. Further than just a physical discomfort, I was in a bad place mentally to begin with and my surroundings only amplified the situation.

The situation snuck up on me and I didn¿¿t have the proper skills to defend myself from the mental illness that caught up to me in second year. Its sometimes embarrassing to know how I had everything set up and I managed to allow my insecurities and sadness get in the way of my greater goal of higher education and ultimately achieving a career that makes me happy and allows me to live my life to the fullest. However, I recognize that I need to move forward from my past failures and keep trying because that¿¿s the only way to get things done. This especially began a few weeks into second year and progressed further as the heat left and the cold took over. I would love the opportunity to try seeking my education with the insight I have gained as I feel it may help me. Though the chance of failure is something that I am deeply afraid of, it is a fear I must face. I can provide emails I sent during this time, a note from the doctor that treated me and evidence of the counselling programs I am enrolled in. ¿¿
I would love if I didn¿¿t have to had gone through the experiences that I have but I believe that have given me insight into how to live my life a little better and perspective of where I want my place to be in the world. Another thing that I have been battling to face but have recently brought myself to complete is this appeal. In order to complete it I had to revisit my Queen¿¿s email, look at the actual amount that I owed Queen¿¿s for classes I did not complete, but to relive my experience through explaining to a board who I know will evaluate my eligibility to continue being a student at Queen¿¿s. This was a big step on my roadmap to success.

Through taking the time to look through my emails and reflect on the situation I realize that I did not take the time to properly inform the school of what I was going through. As a result my second term teachers are probably pretty confused why a Van Veecock didn¿¿t show up to a single attendance. On top of this I have understandably been charged for an entire term I did not attend. I was hoping I could ask for my dept to be at least partially forgiven as money doesn¿¿t exactly always come in abundance and for me to pay this dept adds pressure my spending on being able to attend school. I fully understand if this is too much to ask but it would mean a lot if I could even have it partially forgiven.

I would also like to ask if there is any chance that I can appeal all of my classes from Fall 2019 and Winter 2020 terms. This includes MUTH 110, SOCY 200, MUSC 104, SOCY 275, MUSC 180, PSYC 100B, SOCY 122B, ENGL100B, MUSC 255B, CLST 103, SOCY284, SOCY 276, MUSC 289, MUSC 289, MUTH 111, SOCY 235. I should have dropped my courses by the deadline but I was dealing with so much at the time that I did not even realize what I should be doing with the school. This is a lot to take back but I really want to make things right and finish my education.

I appreciate the time you took to read my appeal and I can be reached by phone or by email in order to discuss further or for any extra information necessary.

Many thanks,

Van Veecock

20113143

1(705)875-3568
17vlv@queensu.ca
VanLVeecock@gmail.com