Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean of Academics,

I am appealing my grades from the 2015 fall term for GNDS 212, POLS 211, POLS 250A, POLS 261 and POLS 280. My aim is to have my classes changed to dropped to reflect my withdrawal from the Political Studies Program in November of 2015.
I experienced extenuating mental health and family circumstances in the fall of 2015. The concerns were cumulative, and I was increasingly unable to be an active student. The mental health issues I experienced did not allow me to attend classes regularly and took away from my ability to complete assignments and papers. I was unable to manage my emotional wellbeing and struggled with maintaining connections with my peers and professors. The symptoms I experienced stopped me from being able to focus on my studies despite my passion for education, as reflected in my grades from my first year at Queen's University.
Not only was I suffering from my own decline in mental health, but my family in Nova Scotia was going through the climax of a very challenging period. These family struggles began while I was in high school and are still presently occurring. The active alcoholism of one of my parents created psychological abuse, restraining orders and the divorce of my parents. An extreme event happened on November 5th, 2015 and led to the arrest of my alcoholic parent and the removal of my siblings from their care. My alcoholic parent called me constantly throughout the month of November seeking empathy and support. This created emotional turbulence and took away from my ability to study. Although my first priority was to try to improve my own health, I was constantly distracted by my concern for my younger siblings. My siblings were 8 and 16 at the time and they were dealing with the toxic family environment without my presence and support. I felt pulled between trying to manage my studies, my mental health and trying to support my family in another province.
I left Kingston to return to Nova Scotia at the end of November 2015. I was not myself and was unaware that I needed to officially withdraw from my classes. If I had been aware of this process, I still would not have had the ability to complete the process of dropping my courses. I became aware of this when I accessed my transcript for the purpose of applying for future post-secondary institutions.
Since returning to Nova Scotia, I have been spending time with my family to work towards amending the psychological pain that we went through together. I sought support through the Eastern Shore Mental Health group as well as professional help from healthcare providers. I worked towards learning healthy coping skills to be able to manage my own emotional wellbeing. After significant healing and personal development, I returned to post-secondary education at the Nova Scotia Community College in September 2020. I am studying Social Services with the long-term goal of becoming an Addictions Counsellor. I am currently maintaining an average of 99. Once I complete this diploma program, my next step is to apply for a Bachelor of Social Work. With the grades currently on my Queen's transcript, I do not meet the requirements for any BSW program. An amendment to my Fall 2015 Queen's grades would allow me to further my education and give back to my community.
Thank you in advance for considering my appeal request. Please reach out if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,
Anise McKay
Queen's Student ID: 10140672
Tel: 902-818-1214