Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jill Atkinson,
I am appealing the Arts and Science Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queens for a year.
Two months into my grade 12 year, around the end of November, I had suffered from a terrible injury in my right ankle which resulted in breaking all three bones in my ankle joint. After this injury I had to go through 3 surgeries through November 2019 - April 2020. I was strictly bed ridden and confined in my room for 4 months for recovery. By the time I was able to start walking again it was the end of February 2020 and only after a couple of weeks of transitioning back into my daily life, Covid-19 took a turn for the worse and we were sent into lockdown. The past year and a half of lack of a proper life took a toll on my mental health greatly. I can say with certainty that the sudden change in lifestyle has affected all of us. Though I have had depressive episodes that I have always been able to overcome for years now. None were as bad as the one that had just passed. Therefore going into that state of mind, I had no clue how to deal with it in a healthy manner. My family has always had a complicated relationship and during the Winter 2020 semester it got much worse. Right before exam time (April 8 to be exact), a court case was opened for my parents' personal relationship. The case was open until the end of May. My family was already falling apart months prior to the case and we are still trying to restore the relationship among us. At the time I felt as though my family needed my attention more than my education. Trying to fix these issues took a toll on my education as well as mental stability. I hope you can understand that I cannot legally provide documentation for this case as I am not involved in it. But being in a toxic environment as such for a year and half straight without very limited break from the situation at home made it almost impossible for me to get out of my depressive state. I lacked motivation and felt extremely negatively towards every aspect of my life, not only education. So I made a decision to get professional help through therapy in order to better my mental health starting April 20 2021. I have attended 8 sessions so far and I had mentioned my concerns with my education with my counsellor. Though it is not needed for me to disclose any diagnosis I have been given so far I believe it is necessary to mention that I was advised to get a test for ADHD done when I had described my struggles with studying remotely.