Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing a letter of appeal for an extension of an incomplete grade in EMPR 220 (Fall 2021). The outstanding assessment for the course is the final exam and I hope to be able to write the exam during May. Near the end of the Fall 2021 semester, I suffered the loss of my father after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. I am an only child and for my first 21 years of life my father has been my best friend, my mentor, and my biggest supporter. At the end of this past summer, my father's condition took a turn for the worse. At this time, I wanted to spend the year at home to be by my fathers side as he fought incredibly hard to stay with me and my mom. However, my father has always pushed me to rise to the occasion and was adamant that I continued my studies away at Queen's. Despite his condition, he still wanted me to continue pursuing my academic aspirations. In a way, I think my father just wanted to know that I was going to be okay, that I could keep moving forward with my life despite the incredible loss I was soon to endure. So, I headed back to Kingston and embarked on another year of study, promising my father I would be home for Christmas to see him again in just a few short months. Unfortunately, this is not how our story unfolded. Towards the end of the Fall 2021 semester, I got a phone call from my mom letting me know that I would never be able to see my wonderful father again. Over the course of this ordeal my mental health has been profoundly affected. It is hard to truly express the pain of helplessly watching the most important person in my life slowly fade away. Ever since suffering this profound loss academic work has been extremely challenging. I cannot help but be preoccupied with immense sadness as my mind is clouded with thoughts of unexpressed love for my father, all the things I wish I had told him, and all the plans that we had. It takes me much longer than usual to complete assignments, I have trouble sleeping at night, it takes longer to adequately study course content, and the stresses of my academics are overwhelming when coupled with the stress caused by the loss of my father. I spent the end of the Fall 2021 semester with family back home, holding a ceremony celebrating the man that my father was and all the lives he touched. It was there I delivered my fathers eulogy after just 21 short years that I will cherish for the rest of my life. After some time trying to come to terms with the loss of my father, I spent my entire Christmas break trying to finish my Fall 2021 courses and then returned to Queens for the Winter 2022 semester fully intending on completing the EMPR 220 final exam. However, while working hard to get caught up and complete my Winter 2022 course work my situation was further complicated by a COVID-19 infection that left me very sick and further disrupted my studies for over a week. I was unable to get any course work done while sick and still suffering the effects of grief. I continue to suffer significant grief while trying to complete Fall 2021 coursework with Winter 2022 courses. When adding the significant delays imposed by my period with COVID-19, the situation has become unmanageable and highly distressing. Considering this, my EMPR 220 instructor Dr. Jacoba Lilius and I agree that I should complete the EMPR 220 final exam after completing my coursework for the Winter 2022 semester. With the full support of my professor, I am requesting an extension of the incomplete grade for EMPR 220 to May 31, 2022, allowing me time to complete the EMPR 220 final exam, despite what has been an incredibly challenging year.