Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing to tender my official appeal to drop ASTR 101 from my Fall 2021 semester. As you can see from my past grades, I am as fairly good student with a good average. Though I may not want to make many excuses for my drop in academic performance with ASTR 101, I would like to explain the circumstances which led me to my low grade in the course and my unwillingness to take the final examination.

At the end of 2020, I experienced a traumatic event that changed my entire personality with an emotional and physical abuse I suffered from a man in my life. I went through night terrors and extreme depression before I reached out for help. I was officially diagnosed with PTSD with chronic depression and anxiety in the summer of 2021. I thought that I would be able to handle my full time job, my schooling and my mental health but I was severely wrong. I had days without sleep form the nightmares and had PTSD panic episode constantly. It disrupted my home life and my professional life as well as my school. I had a severely hard time keeping up with assignments and finding motivation.

For the examination, I have always tried to do exams on campus or in a separate space of my home. I have a severe fear of using web cams which is why I have none in my home. I wrote to my professor to have my examination deferred and he said he would get back to me in an email but there was no further communication. I also wrote to the exam office for a deferral to find a space to write the exam outside my home. With COVID-19 this has proved to be impossible as all exams were moved online. My home is my safe space and the fact that I have to have someone watching me inside my safe space increases my panic tenfold. While taking astronomy 101 I was also taking a writing course that I actually excelled in. Writing was an escape for me and I continually write blogs and stories as an escape from symptoms.

I have recently been prescribed new medication for depression and an increased dosage for my PTSD but it can take up to 5 weeks before I see improvement in symptoms. I currently using a online platform to take to certified listeners for my depression and I am on a list to see a mental health professional within a month. I am hoping this will help improve symptoms for this current semester. I have already obtained space outside my home for my biology exam this semester to take online if no in person examinations are allowed.

I hope the university will consider my extreme circumstances and allow the drop of this course to continue my academic career with my best foot forward.

Thank you,

Ianna Jasinski