Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am requesting an academic appeal for the course FREN 230, which I took in Fall 2021. After speaking with an academic advisor about wanting to switch programs, I felt appealing this grade was the right thing to do. In grade 12, right when the COVID pandemic started, I felt the need to drop out of my science courses since I was not getting the grades to get into university. Even though my passion was science, it was the better thing to do and once being accepted to university, I could switch programs. Later on in the year, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Once medicated, my grades were excellent, which allowed me to get into university. Starting with my first year at Queen??s online, I did not take it as seriously as I wanted to, but online school felt like I was back in high school. The timeline of my extenuating circumstance started once I started being on campus. It did not occur to me that since I had not been around many people, I started feeling like I had social anxiety. All of second year, I would dread going to class because I was scared of what people thought of me and if I was answering the questions right. For instance, I had FREN 230 twice a week, and I had only shown up twice all semester. It was not because I was lazy and did not want to go, but because I had not built up the courage to sit in a small classroom and interact with other people. Usually, I am a very punctual person who does not like to be late or miss class. In this case, I felt like my mental health took over, making me overthink quite a lot. It was to the point where if I were to show up to class, overthinking was all I was doing, and I was not even paying attention to the course content. As this situation has not only affected my performance in FREN 230, it also affected me in tutorials as I did not want to speak up and express my opinion. I would say that this situation has mildly impacted my academic activities. I have slowly improved during my second semester; however, my first semester did not go well. I have also been very sick all of this year. Starting in late November (around the exam period), I got COVID-19. This completely changed the way I dealt with studying. From that point on, I would get continuously sick with viral infections, which would throw me off my academic mindset. The whole reasoning as to why I want to appeal this class is because of the ongoing situation that has affected my grade in FREN 230. I am also currently in a program that I do not want to be in, and due to my poor grades from last year, I could not be in the program I wanted to be in. However, this year, I took the class I needed to get into a Biology major, and I would like to apply. This would allow me to get to the mindset I have always had, which is to be in a science program. I would say that during this timeline, I did not realize what I was experiencing was a serious situation. I have decided to reach out to my old therapist for help, considering I was going through this alone without realizing it was a problem. I would say that this circumstance has improved throughout the year; however, there are things I need to work on. With the help of a therapist, I can see this problem changing positively. I genuinely want myself to succeed and be in a program that fits best for me, so I am eager to change my mindset to strive in my academics.