Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: In this letter I will give a brief timeline of events throughout this past school year, as well as outline reasons why I did so poorly which correlate with the events. Then, I will explain how I believe I can become a successful and even model student if I am allowed to return to studies this fall.
I believe that my academic performance this past year was damaged due to circumstances beyond my control, specifically COVID-19 regulations, and having to do school online. I believe that I will be able to do well in the fall when classes resume, should they be in person.
Initially, had deferrals not been regrettably unallowed, I might have deferred my admission to Queen¿¿s University when I heard that classes would all be online for the academic year of 2020-2021. I had just finished my final year of highschool, where school had been moved to an online setting since the end of March break. My academic performance is severely negatively impacted in an online setting, for a few main reasons. Firstly, it becomes a lot easier to skip class, ignore assignments or not hand them in on time, since one can simply not open the website where class is being hosted. In person, not completing assignments, even if not done on time, is nearly out of the question, as one is faced with their teachers and peers every day. Secondly, in person classroom communication is vital to my motivation to participate in discussions, or to listen attentively. Being behind a screen affords a greater possibility to not pay attention, or to involve oneself in some sort of distraction, like social media. Finally, as some of my hobbies, and also communicating with friends because of lockdowns, involve being on a computer, the extended hours of being behind a screen become exhausting and unbearable, leaving me with a diminished mood and an unsatisfactory motivation level.
I went to residence for the first semester and was capable of doing well. I say capable because I did not do as well as I could have, due to the online format, and having chosen some classes that ended up either not being of interest to me or not what I expected them to be, or I realized that I had only chosen them because I felt that I should have. Despite this, having friends in similar classes who I was able to work with in person greatly helped me stay motivated to work, and sometimes I would be helping them as well as myself, and would be trying not to let them down.
After the winter break, I decided to stay home since COVID-19 regulations had changed. Specifically, the ARC had closed, and staying-in dining was no longer an option. Also, I was able to get a significant refund on residence fees. Personal fitness is very important to me, so not having a place to workout with the required equipment, and possibly not getting the nutrition to sustain my strength training was unacceptable to me.
Despite initially being better for my physical health, being at home started to take a toll on my emotional state and academic standing only about a few weeks into the second semester. Being away from my friends meant I did not have anyone to study with physically, as studying with someone online is ineffective for me. It also made me feel as though I was missing out on experiences with them, which often made me sad, causing a damaging lack in motivation. It also caused me to fall out of the routine we had had with each other, which was the classic schedule of doing most of our work during the week and having fun on the weekends. Because I was away from my friends, and online communication with people as a replacement for hanging out in person was exhausting at this point, I spent a lot of time alone. This resulted in an unhealthy amount of self-image scrutiny, especially physically. My workouts became obsessive as a result, taking precedence over schoolwork sometimes. My at-home setting also caused me to feel a great disconnect from school, and I fell under the irrational idea that the consequences of doing poorly were not as serious since I was not actually ¿¿at school¿. I also fell under the false assumption that I had more than enough time to make up for poor grades, but bad study habits I had garnered during this time of apathy made this impossible. The asynchronicity of most of my classes further contributed to my lack of discipline, as there was no real class to go to. I am honest with myself when I say that I would not miss in person classes, however online classes were easy for me to not attend.