Petition Letter
The reason for my petition to waive the requirement to withdraw for three years is that my overall mental health and mental well-being played a direct role in limiting my academic abilities to a great extent and had an overall negative effect on my academics.
My mental health issues began in 2017 in my first academic year at the university. Being away from home for the first time in my life took a toll on my mental well-being. This led to multiple instances of not leaving my residence room and panic attacks. I never told anyone about how I was feeling because of fear of judgment and overall personal embarrassment. My mental health continued to worsen throughout the academic year. I felt extremely unmotivated to complete assignments, even though I understood the work needed to be done, often times I would not even begin assignments as the stress of completing them felt like too much. It felt as if the stress of avoiding the assignment was easier to deal with rather than beginning the assignment and feeling lost and confused, which would lead me to an even worse mental state.
In my second academic year, I was unable to be accepted into my desired plan, political science. I felt extremely embarrassed and upset about this and felt that seeking help would lead to judgment. My mental well-being continued to worsen, leading to multiple stretches throughout my second academic year of missing classes, sometimes not even leaving my room in my student house. There were multiple instances throughout my second academic year of missing classes for up to 7 consecutive days because of my mental health. Oftentimes, assignments were not being handed in as I felt more embarrassed about submitting assignments late and having the possibility of someone finding out, leading to me lying about submitting assignments to my housemates. Towards the end of the 2019 winter semester, there was an incident at my student house in which I became extremely emotional, retiring to my room and texting all of my housemates about how I was scared of my own well-being.
Continuing into my third academic year, my mental health reached a low point. There was constant anxiety every day that I was enrolled in classes, and still, no one was aware of my mental state. I reached a breaking point in October of 2019. During homecoming weekend, I abruptly left my student house as I was finding it extremely stressful to be around my house environment. Combined with the last few years of poor mental health and academic struggle, I left my student house late and night and began walking. Initially, I had had enough and planned on walking to a highway bridge. I was ignoring my phone as I had friends and fellow students attempting to reach out to me. It was not until on this walk that I received a phone call from my mother that I stopped and began to calm down. I talked with her for approximately 30 minutes. This phone call likely stopped me from continuing to the highway, and I began to return home. I slept the night in my car that evening.
In my fourth academic year, I enrolled in courses for the fall 2020 semester and winter 2021 semester, however, I did not complete any assignments or work. Having still not talked to anyone about my mental struggles, I believed that given my academic performance, it would have been impossible for me to attain a high enough GPA and remain a student at the university. Additionally, all classes were held online during this pandemic academic year. This online method of teaching made me extremely anxious as I felt that somehow my fellow students would recognize or notice my mental well-being and judge me for it. After the winter 2021 semester, I was required to withdraw from my studies for one year.
My requirement to withdraw from studies during my time away weighed on me heavily. I had constant anxiety and poor mental health thinking that I was a lesser person as I had been required to withdraw based on academic performance. Still seeking no help, I filed to return to studies for the 2022 fall semester.
At the beginning of the 2022 fall semester, I felt reinvigorated and ready to improve my academic performance. I was retaking courses to improve failing grades to passing ones and for the first time was enjoying university courses. Around Thanksgiving 2022, my grandfather’s health began to decline. This had a very negative impact on my mental health, and I began to slip back into a negative mental state. I was once again not completing assignments and missing class. At the beginning of the 2023 Winter semester, I knew that I needed to change something. I had a positive appointment with student success services, helping lay out a framework for the future. For the first six weeks, my grades were good, and I was attending classes and completing assignments. On March 5th, 2023, my grandfather passed away. This had a drastic effect on my mental health. After his passing, multiple assignments were left incomplete by the end of the semester.
Overall, my mental health has directly affected my academic performance. I have begun mental health exercises in an attempt to improve my overall mental well-being and will be seeing my family doctor more frequently to combat my mental stresses.
My mental health issues began in 2017 in my first academic year at the university. Being away from home for the first time in my life took a toll on my mental well-being. This led to multiple instances of not leaving my residence room and panic attacks. I never told anyone about how I was feeling because of fear of judgment and overall personal embarrassment. My mental health continued to worsen throughout the academic year. I felt extremely unmotivated to complete assignments, even though I understood the work needed to be done, often times I would not even begin assignments as the stress of completing them felt like too much. It felt as if the stress of avoiding the assignment was easier to deal with rather than beginning the assignment and feeling lost and confused, which would lead me to an even worse mental state.
In my second academic year, I was unable to be accepted into my desired plan, political science. I felt extremely embarrassed and upset about this and felt that seeking help would lead to judgment. My mental well-being continued to worsen, leading to multiple stretches throughout my second academic year of missing classes, sometimes not even leaving my room in my student house. There were multiple instances throughout my second academic year of missing classes for up to 7 consecutive days because of my mental health. Oftentimes, assignments were not being handed in as I felt more embarrassed about submitting assignments late and having the possibility of someone finding out, leading to me lying about submitting assignments to my housemates. Towards the end of the 2019 winter semester, there was an incident at my student house in which I became extremely emotional, retiring to my room and texting all of my housemates about how I was scared of my own well-being.
Continuing into my third academic year, my mental health reached a low point. There was constant anxiety every day that I was enrolled in classes, and still, no one was aware of my mental state. I reached a breaking point in October of 2019. During homecoming weekend, I abruptly left my student house as I was finding it extremely stressful to be around my house environment. Combined with the last few years of poor mental health and academic struggle, I left my student house late and night and began walking. Initially, I had had enough and planned on walking to a highway bridge. I was ignoring my phone as I had friends and fellow students attempting to reach out to me. It was not until on this walk that I received a phone call from my mother that I stopped and began to calm down. I talked with her for approximately 30 minutes. This phone call likely stopped me from continuing to the highway, and I began to return home. I slept the night in my car that evening.
In my fourth academic year, I enrolled in courses for the fall 2020 semester and winter 2021 semester, however, I did not complete any assignments or work. Having still not talked to anyone about my mental struggles, I believed that given my academic performance, it would have been impossible for me to attain a high enough GPA and remain a student at the university. Additionally, all classes were held online during this pandemic academic year. This online method of teaching made me extremely anxious as I felt that somehow my fellow students would recognize or notice my mental well-being and judge me for it. After the winter 2021 semester, I was required to withdraw from my studies for one year.
My requirement to withdraw from studies during my time away weighed on me heavily. I had constant anxiety and poor mental health thinking that I was a lesser person as I had been required to withdraw based on academic performance. Still seeking no help, I filed to return to studies for the 2022 fall semester.
At the beginning of the 2022 fall semester, I felt reinvigorated and ready to improve my academic performance. I was retaking courses to improve failing grades to passing ones and for the first time was enjoying university courses. Around Thanksgiving 2022, my grandfather’s health began to decline. This had a very negative impact on my mental health, and I began to slip back into a negative mental state. I was once again not completing assignments and missing class. At the beginning of the 2023 Winter semester, I knew that I needed to change something. I had a positive appointment with student success services, helping lay out a framework for the future. For the first six weeks, my grades were good, and I was attending classes and completing assignments. On March 5th, 2023, my grandfather passed away. This had a drastic effect on my mental health. After his passing, multiple assignments were left incomplete by the end of the semester.
Overall, my mental health has directly affected my academic performance. I have begun mental health exercises in an attempt to improve my overall mental well-being and will be seeing my family doctor more frequently to combat my mental stresses.