Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello Dean,

Hope you are doing well in these unprecedented times. My name is Emma Sheldon and I am a first-year arts and sciences student at Queen's University. I am writing this to you today in hopes you will consider my circumstance for an academic appeal with regards to a late drop in PSYC 100 and SOCY 122.

When I moved into a house in Kingston with a group of friends, although this was a major relief it also came with psychological stresses which consequently impacted my performance throughout the school year and kept me up at night. When I arrived I was constantly distracted worrying about how my family was doing at home without me there as it is a complicated situation there. My dad is an alcoholic and my parents are currently in the makings of figuring out a separation. Due to this, I felt helpless and guilt of knowing that I was lucky enough for my family to provide me with a safe new space while they were suffering which strongly impacted me with regards to my behavior around school and worsened my sleeping habits at night, which has been an ongoing issue routed from my loud and high-stress home environment on the occasion that it is dysfunctional. I have spent countless hours researching on the internet as a coping mechanism about how this trauma has impacted and shaped me characteristically to who I am today, ever since I was enrolled in a family studies course where I learned about different family dynamics. This has been done in attempts to educate me as I find relief from knowing this since I try to seem to keep it together with the majority of the time, especially around my loved ones as I don't want to create feelings of panic or worry. Since I don't know any friends who can relate to me in the situation to talk to about it, it can be hard sometimes and lonely to move on when I start thinking about the situation. Additionally, trying to find a strategy for self-growth and improvement to try and prevent this from happening again. Due to instances in my home, in the past, I have tended to put blame on myself for them occurring, which makes it easy for me to shut down and let stuff pile up as it is hard for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel in many cases. Alongside this significant challenge that affects my daily life, less so when I am living in Kingston but is still notable, I have a learning strategies plan which was not implemented. This plan has been done throughout high school that I found to be very helpful and had a positive impact on my schoolwork. The main struggle I faced with regards to learning is my diagnosis with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which was emphasized by the struggles of online school is never experienced before. Using the new software and adjusting to this new school lifestyle was difficult for me in navigating the websites, getting organized, and I was experiencing some problems with my password as it would have to be reset in order for me to sign in multiple times. As for the sleeping troubles, I am planning to take steps in reaching out to my doctor for help. Unfortunately, I did not get around to registering my plan with QSAS until recently. Due to this, I feel as though I did not give myself a fair chance in this course and would really appreciate it if you would consider my appeal for a late drop in PSYC 100 along with SOCY 122 so I can make up for this and learn from it rather than failing.

Thank you for your time,
Emma Sheldon