Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am requesting to appeal POLS 211 Canadian Government and ARTH 232 Canadian Art II beyond the drop deadline due to extenuating circumstances beyond my control.

At the beginning of the summer period of study my partner who I was living with experienced complications with his heart. These complications brought him to KGH urgent care around 4 am on May 13, 2021. These complications required him to have emergency heart surgery and kept him in the ICU for 7 days. I was initially his only visitor allowed at the hospital as I was his only support system present in Kingston. I was at the hospital for the entirety of his 7-hour emergency heart surgery. Following his surgery his doctor told me that he should have died that morning, which I was incredibly difficult to hear considering he appeared to be a healthy 21-year-old just hours before his hospitalization. The entirety of this situation was extremely emotionally traumatic for the both of us.

Amidst this distressing event our relationship began to fail as we were both emotionally overwhelmed by the impact of his newly diagnosed health condition. Meanwhile, I was also trying to manage personal trauma from a series of sexual assaults I had experienced prior to the summer semester. I was participating in the Queen's Student Wellness Services summer offering of PEGaSUS Support Group for Sexual Violence. The PEGaSUS course was an 8-week program that took place from May 4-June 22, 2021. While participating in this group previous trauma related to my sexual assaults was brought up, so I was trying to cope with very difficult emotions. Although I found this group to be helpful, I realized I have more emotional work to do, which continues to affect my presently.

Eventually my partner and I broke up, which impacted my living arrangement throughout the month of June. Although I had a place to stay, I was experiencing anxiety related to conflict that had developed between my former partner and myself. Due to his health condition, it was difficult to finalize his transition out of the place we were residing in together. This moving process continued to effect my life until mid September 2021.

The stress from my partner's health crisis, the previous trauma of sexual assaults and complications to my living arrangements severely impacted my mental health and my ability to manage my course load at the time. I was coping with severe anxiety and depressive episodes which severely impacted my sleep. I was either unable to sleep for days on end or oversleeping for extended periods of time. I was determined to complete my course load, which was an unrealistic expectation I had placed on myself. When I was not sleeping, I had extreme difficulty concentrating, which impaired my ability to complete my assignments or attend graded online tutorial sessions. Both courses had weekly participation activities, which I often missed either as a result of anxiety or depressive sleep episodes. I isolated myself from my peers and was in denial of how unwell my mental state was, so I did not seek the support I needed. My sense of reality and time was impaired as result of other emotional priorities, so I missed the deadlines of June 14, 2021 for POLS 211 and July 2, 2021 for ARTH 232.

I moved home to Calgary on July 4, 2021 to be with parents in hopes of regaining emotional stability. In July I connected with academic advisement at Queen's who recommended I appeal dropping these courses beyond the deadline. Since this summer period I have had an ongoing struggle managing depression and anxiety, but I have utilized a counsellor at Queen's Student Wellness services as of November 2021. Additionally, I have connected with my doctor and psychologist at home in Calgary for support.