Petition Letter
I want to acknowledge that the position that I am in is due to the consequences of my actions, and I am not trying to make any excuses, but I want to explain how those actions were influenced due to certain events. There are a few circumstances and events that I do believe affected my academic performance recently. One of those events was the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically during the time when classes were switching back to in-person classes from online classes, and the hybrid learning classes. During that time I was struggling a bit with mental health, and the switch in the learning methods of classes did have me start to struggle with feeling burnt out and I found myself struggling to complete small assignments and did not spend as much time preparing for tests and exams as I should have. I also found myself feeling isolated, even though I was living with friends, I was feeling isolated from my family, and I was not able too interact with people who were taking the same courses that I was, which made it harder to motivate myself to do work. Two years ago my grandmother passed away after suddenly being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and within two months or so of her diagnosis she passed away, and some issues within my family arose as a result of that. This event had the biggest impact on my academic performance, as following her passing I did not get meet with any personal counsellors to process what had happened. This impacted my academic performance as I believe I was struggling with some mental health challenges, and not seeking and professional help had a hand in my underperformance academics wise. This struggle with academics continued for me in a downward spiral as I began to struggle more with my mental health and my academic performance, but I still did not seek any help, and so I found myself struggling to complete simple coursework such as assignments and essays and could only bring myself to complete midterms and exams, which negatively impacted my academics. Considering that I had been having some mental health struggles prior to my grandmother passing, I found that those struggles got worse following her passing, and even now two years later I still find myself struggling with my mental health from both the pandemic and the death of my grandma. I have found since that being home with my family has definitely helped, and I am currently completing some spring/summer courses online and find those to be going better now since being home. Reflecting now, I know that I need to deal with these circumstances and as a result I will be seeking consolation with a health-care professional or counsellor/therapist to find healthy coping mechanisms for the problems that I am having, and should my petition be granted, how to continue to deal with my mental health in a way that contributes to academic success.