Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dr. Atkinson,
I am Reilly Gill, a student going into my third year at Queens next year. I am appealing to drop HIST218 (Fall, 2021). I was diagnosed with depressive disorder and an anxiety disorder when I was 14, but going into my second year at Queens my symptoms were exacerbated a tremendous amount. Personal circumstances such as moving into a house with five girls I??d never met before, my two best friends dropping out of Queens, a breakup, my house getting covid, and many family stresses led me to experience extreme anxiety and depression in my first semester. I was experiencing frequent panic attacks that led me to the emergency room, unable to eat or sleep frequently, and often scared to leave my house or even enter the kitchen in my house to make food; I also began coping with these stressors by using bad coping mechanisms which led to other personal and physical difficulties. I did not see a therapist at the time because the effort to book and attend sessions was too much for me in my state; additionally, sessions were over zoom I was worried the people in my house would hear me talking through the walls due to my heightened anxiety. I have included a note from my family doctor who I talked to in my backyard on the phone and later in person throughout this time regarding medication and mental health. Because of these factors I dropped down to three courses, though in hindsight I should have been taking only two.
In HIST218 our first assignment was a research paper worth 40-50% of our grade, I was unfamiliar with writing research papers and the large percentage of the assignment made me feel paralyzed in my anxious and depressed state. I had a panic attack whilst writing the paper and then I began to completely avoid it due to fear of another panic attack. I felt extremely anxious even thinking about the topic the class was on; the shadow of Byzantium haunted me much as it did the nomadic peoples of the steppes haha. When the final exam came around I treated it in the same way as I did the paper. I was too tired to pack and return home for fall reading week, but when I came home for winter break my parents noticed I??d become very thin, and was very withdrawn. My other two classes (in philosophy) I was able to keep up with as I have more experience writing philosophy essays and these assignments were worth less of my grade so I found them less daunting at the time. I became so scared of history that I began taking English courses instead, thinking I would switch to a philosophy/english medial as opposed to philosophy/history; I have since decided to keep pursuing history and I am making up for my missed courses in summer school, and partially next year. I am very confident that I will do well in history in the future. I took HIST246 in my first year at Queens and achieved a 3.7 grade; I attribute my failure in HIST218 completely to heightened mental illness, which I have since learned strategies to handle.
In the winter term I made changes to my medication which greatly improved my ability to function and do school work. I connected with a therapist, and I am now comfortable talking to her in my house. If I am uncomfortable, I know how to book quiet rooms in Kingston in which I can have private appointments. I was able to greatly decrease my poor coping mechanisms. And I registered for accommodations with QSAS; knowing that I can receive accommodations if needed greatly helped to reduce the stress and panic that schoolwork caused me. I intend to continue working with my therapist and doctor throughout the summer and next year; I am learning many strategies to help with panic attacks, depression, and especially academic anxiety. I also stopped isolating, creating a better living environment for myself which I will have going into next year. I took five courses in the winter term and was able to achieve high Bs or As in all of them. I also was able to complete important papers worth 50%-60% of my grade. Although, having such a low mark on my transcript does increase the anxiety I feel surrounding school work.
If you check my transcript you??ll see I completed half of my first year at the University of Toronto; I enjoyed University of Toronto but I wanted to experience the community at Queens which is why I transferred, and I am very glad I did. I wished to include my University of Toronto transcript to attest to the fact that my marks were in the As at University of Toronto and I??ve never experienced such academic paralysis before. At time of writing my transcript request is still being processed, but I am happy to provide it upon request as soon as it arrives. I am extremely passionate about my studies at Queens, I have loved writing and reading about history and philosophy my whole life and it??s something I want to continue beyond undergrad.
Thank you so much for your consideration,
Reilly Gill