Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: To the Members of the Board of Studies,

I am appealing the Associate Dean's decision to deny my appeal to drop HLTH 230 and HLTH 332 after the academic deadline. In this letter I will be explaining in further detail the extenuating circumstances I faced during the summer 2021 term that prevented me from completing these courses.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, in April 2021, I medically terminated an unplanned pregnancy. This negatively impacted both my physical health and mental health, thus affecting my ability to put my best effort into completing my courses for the winter term. While I did successfully complete these courses, I found myself struggling and believed I did not perform to the best of my ability. I had decided to take extra courses during my summer term in hopes of being in a better state to improve my grades. While I believed that I would be in better health to take on a full academic course load, I was wrong. Over the term I continuously struggled with depression and anxiety that got increasingly worse over the months.

Regarding my achievement of acceptable grades in my other courses, I could not have accomplished that without the support of my housemate at the time given the state that I was in. We both took IDIS 373, and she would help to keep me on track by offering to work on assignments at the same time and helping me along the way. I have always had a passion for writing and it is one of the reasons I took WRIT 125, which helped motivate me to complete the work. While I did get a good grade in that course, I struggled to hand assignments in on time, sometimes completing the assignment wrong, and was in contact with the teaching team about how I was struggling and overwhelmed throughout the term. To achieve the grade that I did, I relied heavily on the compassion of the teaching team to support me and bring out my best work at that time.

In late July, I was informed that my uncle Mark was being criminally investigated and charged for spousal endangerment and abuse. Along with this, my aunt Corrine moved herself and my 12-year-old cousin, Lola, out of the province and because of the nature of the case, we are not allowed to know where they are staying. This information came while I was preparing for my final exams for both HLTH 230 and HLTH 332 and was very difficult for me to handle. I am close with my family, and I am extremely close with Lola and as a result my ability to perform academically, along with in every-day activities, was severely impacted. This matter has impacted my family and I tremendously, and lead to a breaking point where I found myself at my lowest point yet. I was so consumed with my mental health surrounding this issue at the time that I neglected, eating, bathing, and sleeping, and I began having self-harming thoughts and idealizations. At this point, I could not focus or prioritize my academics and made the decision to prioritize my health. While it was made clear that I had the time to drop the courses, it was hard for me to accept that I was struggling at that time and instead turned to self-blame.

In order for me to be appealing these courses to better my academics, I have been working extensively to improve my health. I sought out counselling from student wellness and they aided me in finding resources outside of Queen's for after I graduate. This family matter is still ongoing, and I am still struggling. I believe that under different circumstances and with coping mechanisms I am working to develop now, I would have been able to push through the rest of the term and the exams. However, I am confident in my ability to learn from the challenges I have faced, and that I can better prepare myself to handle situations like this in a way that does not impact my studies in the future.