Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 9376
Submitted: July 6, 2022 at 10:37:26 PM
First Name: Aaron
Last Name: Holland
Student Number: 20300593
Email: 21aah6@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BA
Plan: History
Level of Study: 1
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the 21-day or one term deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: My name is Aaron Holland (Student Number: 20300593). I am requesting an appeal of the June 14th deadline for an academic appeal.
I have been monitoring Outlook since the end of school, but did not receive the email informing me that I was required to withdraw. After speaking to my residence don, I was advised to book a meeting with a PASS academic advisor. Booking a meeting during PASS hours is very difficult as I work in an outdoor environment from 7:00am to 3:30pm weekdays. I took a half day off on June 15 to speak to an advisor. The advisor gave me an email address to request information on the withdrawal email but did not inform me of the appeal deadline.
I now have the email and was told the original email was sent on May 24. During that time, I had no access to the internet as there were major power outages in Ottawa due to the major storm that hit on May 21. Our internet was out for more than 14 days which impacted my ability to log into any Queens sites over that period of time.
I would like to request an extension to the appeal deadline because I did not receive the email due to internet issues because of the storm. In addition, my attempts to schedule a meeting with an academic advisor to assist were very difficult and once I spoke to someone, he was unable to offer me that much information including the appeal deadline.
In addition, I booked another appointment with a PASS advisor on July 1st at 1:30pm through the online booking system. July 1 was the only day I could make because I had the day off. The appointment was canceled. I currently trying to book another appointment because I am keen to file my academic appeal.
I appreciate your consideration of the request.
Thank you,
Aaron Holland
I have been monitoring Outlook since the end of school, but did not receive the email informing me that I was required to withdraw. After speaking to my residence don, I was advised to book a meeting with a PASS academic advisor. Booking a meeting during PASS hours is very difficult as I work in an outdoor environment from 7:00am to 3:30pm weekdays. I took a half day off on June 15 to speak to an advisor. The advisor gave me an email address to request information on the withdrawal email but did not inform me of the appeal deadline.
I now have the email and was told the original email was sent on May 24. During that time, I had no access to the internet as there were major power outages in Ottawa due to the major storm that hit on May 21. Our internet was out for more than 14 days which impacted my ability to log into any Queens sites over that period of time.
I would like to request an extension to the appeal deadline because I did not receive the email due to internet issues because of the storm. In addition, my attempts to schedule a meeting with an academic advisor to assist were very difficult and once I spoke to someone, he was unable to offer me that much information including the appeal deadline.
In addition, I booked another appointment with a PASS advisor on July 1st at 1:30pm through the online booking system. July 1 was the only day I could make because I had the day off. The appointment was canceled. I currently trying to book another appointment because I am keen to file my academic appeal.
I appreciate your consideration of the request.
Thank you,
Aaron Holland
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: This is for a deadline extension.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NA
Documentation Detail: NA
Decision Letters
Amendment to Appeal 9376
Relevant Petition: 9376
First Name: Aaron
Last Name: Holland
Student Number: 20300593
Email: 21aah6@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BA
Plan: History
Level of Study: 2
Appeal Category Detail: Requirement to withdraw
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Hello,
My name is Aaron Holland (Student Number: 20300593). I am a first year student at Queen??s and am appealing my requirement to withdraw. During the 2021-22 school year, there were extenuating circumstances beyond my control that had a significant impact on my academic success. I??ve outlined the reasons below.
One of my biggest challenges with school is that I am dyslexic (see the attached psychological assessment). I was diagnosed with dyslexia in grade 2 and I have worked really hard to make up for my learning challenges and successfully graduate from high school as an Ontario Scholar. As a dyslexic, I learn more effectively in classroom settings, as stated in my psychological assessment. Throughout elementary and high-school, I had several accommodations for my dyslexia, including extra time and alternative writing settings, which were critical to my ability to achieve academic success. Before starting my first-year of university in the fall of 2021, I sought out a psychoeducational assessment in the summer, to help ensure that I could start university with the accommodations and tools that I needed to achieve success. However, due to COVID, there was a significant backlog in obtaining the results of my assessment, and I did not receive the final report until January 2022. For this reason, I was unable to take advantage of the accommodations that I needed to succeed at university in my first term of studies, which significantly contributed towards my poor academic performance in the fall.
Moving to online classes in the second term was very difficult. At the start of the second term I had a lot of challenges getting into many of my classes, as it was often unclear how to enter zoom meetings. For most classes I had to reach out to teaching assistants and professors to obtain access to online lectures. Beyond the challenges of moving to online learning in the winter term, the transition into university, in and of itself, I felt overwhelmed with all the readings and writing assignments.
Finally, I got very sick for most of the exam period of the second term and though I had many covid symptoms including a bad cough and a headache, and as a result was not able to get much sleep. All of my rapid tests came back negative so I was not able to apply for any academic consideration. This really affected my productivity and ability to complete all my assignments at the highest level I could do.
In addition, I played rugby on the Queens club team in the first term. I have been playing rugby all my life and because of COVID restrictions I hadn??t played in 2 years. Rugby was one of the reasons I decided to go to Queens. I was really looking forward to playing because it helps me feel good about myself. Unfortunately, I was injured early in my first game (subluxated shoulder and a separation of my left collar bone) which meant that I couldn??t play for 5 weeks. This was an extremely hard way to start the first term, it affected my general mood for the worse. I struggled to stay motivated with my classes because I was constantly in pain.
I am a person that often doesn??t ask for help and will often say no when people offer. I only reached out to my don when it was too late and I only reached out to Queen??s academic advisors when I had questions about the appeal process. My friends and family would often offer help but I would almost always say no. As well, one of my biggest mistakes this past year was how I chose my courses. During first-year course selection in July 2021, I did not fully understand how to navigate SOLUS and how enrollment dates to choose courses worked. As a result, I was unable to enroll in my courses during the course selection period, and had to make most of my schedule after the main selection dates. This made it very hard to get into the classes I wanted, as many first-year classes were already full by this time. As a result, I took three classes in the first term that were similar, as they were all heavily writing oriented with significant work loads, which made it very hard to stay motivated and it made my first term very repetitive.
In conclusion, my 2021-2022 academic year was extremely difficult for many reasons, some in my control and some outside my control. All of these reasons had a negative affect on my year. For the reasons that I have stated, I believe that my appeal should be accepted. Thank you for your consideration for the request of my appeal.
My name is Aaron Holland (Student Number: 20300593). I am a first year student at Queen??s and am appealing my requirement to withdraw. During the 2021-22 school year, there were extenuating circumstances beyond my control that had a significant impact on my academic success. I??ve outlined the reasons below.
One of my biggest challenges with school is that I am dyslexic (see the attached psychological assessment). I was diagnosed with dyslexia in grade 2 and I have worked really hard to make up for my learning challenges and successfully graduate from high school as an Ontario Scholar. As a dyslexic, I learn more effectively in classroom settings, as stated in my psychological assessment. Throughout elementary and high-school, I had several accommodations for my dyslexia, including extra time and alternative writing settings, which were critical to my ability to achieve academic success. Before starting my first-year of university in the fall of 2021, I sought out a psychoeducational assessment in the summer, to help ensure that I could start university with the accommodations and tools that I needed to achieve success. However, due to COVID, there was a significant backlog in obtaining the results of my assessment, and I did not receive the final report until January 2022. For this reason, I was unable to take advantage of the accommodations that I needed to succeed at university in my first term of studies, which significantly contributed towards my poor academic performance in the fall.
Moving to online classes in the second term was very difficult. At the start of the second term I had a lot of challenges getting into many of my classes, as it was often unclear how to enter zoom meetings. For most classes I had to reach out to teaching assistants and professors to obtain access to online lectures. Beyond the challenges of moving to online learning in the winter term, the transition into university, in and of itself, I felt overwhelmed with all the readings and writing assignments.
Finally, I got very sick for most of the exam period of the second term and though I had many covid symptoms including a bad cough and a headache, and as a result was not able to get much sleep. All of my rapid tests came back negative so I was not able to apply for any academic consideration. This really affected my productivity and ability to complete all my assignments at the highest level I could do.
In addition, I played rugby on the Queens club team in the first term. I have been playing rugby all my life and because of COVID restrictions I hadn??t played in 2 years. Rugby was one of the reasons I decided to go to Queens. I was really looking forward to playing because it helps me feel good about myself. Unfortunately, I was injured early in my first game (subluxated shoulder and a separation of my left collar bone) which meant that I couldn??t play for 5 weeks. This was an extremely hard way to start the first term, it affected my general mood for the worse. I struggled to stay motivated with my classes because I was constantly in pain.
I am a person that often doesn??t ask for help and will often say no when people offer. I only reached out to my don when it was too late and I only reached out to Queen??s academic advisors when I had questions about the appeal process. My friends and family would often offer help but I would almost always say no. As well, one of my biggest mistakes this past year was how I chose my courses. During first-year course selection in July 2021, I did not fully understand how to navigate SOLUS and how enrollment dates to choose courses worked. As a result, I was unable to enroll in my courses during the course selection period, and had to make most of my schedule after the main selection dates. This made it very hard to get into the classes I wanted, as many first-year classes were already full by this time. As a result, I took three classes in the first term that were similar, as they were all heavily writing oriented with significant work loads, which made it very hard to stay motivated and it made my first term very repetitive.
In conclusion, my 2021-2022 academic year was extremely difficult for many reasons, some in my control and some outside my control. All of these reasons had a negative affect on my year. For the reasons that I have stated, I believe that my appeal should be accepted. Thank you for your consideration for the request of my appeal.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: Academic Plan
One of my biggest challenges with my first year was course planning. With this in mind, I have already created a realistic schedule for next year??s classes by taking a broader selection of courses including mixing classes that require a lot of reading and writing with other courses that are more test and memorization oriented. The course schedule I created will help me plan out my days to be as efficient as possible. In addition, I am going to do the following to make sure that I am successful with my course load and classes:
-Use the resources Queens has to offer including academic advising
-Get writing support from writing specialists at Student Academic Success Services
-Use the recommendations in my psychological assessment to develop the supports I need to be successful
-Reaching out to QSAS for assistance when needed
-Better manage time by planning my days and weeks for assignments that are due and planning assignments so I am not completing them at the last minute
-Work with learning strategists from Student Academic Success Services
-Get help from from friends and family to hold me accountable to the dates I commit too
-Plan to take a course in the spring session
-Considering getting a tutoring
-Occupational therapist
I also plan to return to play for the Queens club rugby team next year with the hope of eventually making the varsity team. This is something that I will have to manage in the fall term so I plan to only take 4 courses in the first term to accommodate that.
One of my biggest challenges with my first year was course planning. With this in mind, I have already created a realistic schedule for next year??s classes by taking a broader selection of courses including mixing classes that require a lot of reading and writing with other courses that are more test and memorization oriented. The course schedule I created will help me plan out my days to be as efficient as possible. In addition, I am going to do the following to make sure that I am successful with my course load and classes:
-Use the resources Queens has to offer including academic advising
-Get writing support from writing specialists at Student Academic Success Services
-Use the recommendations in my psychological assessment to develop the supports I need to be successful
-Reaching out to QSAS for assistance when needed
-Better manage time by planning my days and weeks for assignments that are due and planning assignments so I am not completing them at the last minute
-Work with learning strategists from Student Academic Success Services
-Get help from from friends and family to hold me accountable to the dates I commit too
-Plan to take a course in the spring session
-Considering getting a tutoring
-Occupational therapist
I also plan to return to play for the Queens club rugby team next year with the hope of eventually making the varsity team. This is something that I will have to manage in the fall term so I plan to only take 4 courses in the first term to accommodate that.
Document: Psych-ed assessment.pdf
Documentation Detail: Psychological assessment
Document: Mom and Dads Letter.pdf
Documentation Detail: Letter from parents
Document: Appeal submission.pdf
Documentation Detail: Appeal submission