Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean (academic),
I am petitioning the Arts and Science faculty’s decision that I must withdraw from Queen’s for a year. During the 24/25 academic year there were a number of factors that contributed to my poor performance such as the ongoing strikes and my anxiety plus some trauma that came back to haunt me during exam season. When it comes to doing tasks and assignments I procrastinated due to a few factors and could not find a way to organize myself in a timely manner when it came to finishing these tasks. Each time I would start an assignment I would get so anxious thinking that I could/would make a mistake in my writing or test taking skills to the point where I would not even start the assignment or if I had submitted due to fear of making a mistake. In high school this never happened so it was new to me but I had not realized how bad of an issue it became till near the end of the second semester this year. Just recently I consulted a therapist/psychologist to figure out how to combat this, and to see if it's also some other form of anxiety or something else and solutions to fix it so that it doesn’t happen again in the next term. Another factor that contributed to poor performance was the union strikes happening near the mid-end of term two this year. This further contributed to my anxiety as I did not know what the outcome of it would be as did many, and I could not focus on my studying during exam season due to the noise from the protests and strikes plus had no idea what to prioritize and what would be graded further confusing me and spiking my anxiety up. Some trauma also came back although I thought it had been resolved prior. In February of 2023 I had a car accident. Everything was taken care of legally however I had always had a bit of nightmares and trauma surrounding the incident over time it went away slowly and I began to heal however during this uncertain time it came back. With all the strikes and my anxiety this trauma came back just as exam season hit, I couldn’t focus or do anything every time I would get a nightmare and then be anxious about my work plus the noise it was just too much for me to handle I stopped going to tutorials and didn’t ask for help because I thought I could handle it on my own however that was not the case. As stated before I am now consulting therapists about my anxiety and if they need to diagnose me with any other condition and to help me focus on my trauma and more healing regarding it as well. This will help me in the future when it comes to dealing with the anxiety and trauma if it comes up again and to figure out strategies to focus on my tasks at hand whether that is assignments or anything else as my anxiety also got in the way of a few other tasks during this academic year. I also have an academic plan ready as well beneath this petition.
Thanks for reading,
Andrew Quiroz
Queens student
I am petitioning the Arts and Science faculty’s decision that I must withdraw from Queen’s for a year. During the 24/25 academic year there were a number of factors that contributed to my poor performance such as the ongoing strikes and my anxiety plus some trauma that came back to haunt me during exam season. When it comes to doing tasks and assignments I procrastinated due to a few factors and could not find a way to organize myself in a timely manner when it came to finishing these tasks. Each time I would start an assignment I would get so anxious thinking that I could/would make a mistake in my writing or test taking skills to the point where I would not even start the assignment or if I had submitted due to fear of making a mistake. In high school this never happened so it was new to me but I had not realized how bad of an issue it became till near the end of the second semester this year. Just recently I consulted a therapist/psychologist to figure out how to combat this, and to see if it's also some other form of anxiety or something else and solutions to fix it so that it doesn’t happen again in the next term. Another factor that contributed to poor performance was the union strikes happening near the mid-end of term two this year. This further contributed to my anxiety as I did not know what the outcome of it would be as did many, and I could not focus on my studying during exam season due to the noise from the protests and strikes plus had no idea what to prioritize and what would be graded further confusing me and spiking my anxiety up. Some trauma also came back although I thought it had been resolved prior. In February of 2023 I had a car accident. Everything was taken care of legally however I had always had a bit of nightmares and trauma surrounding the incident over time it went away slowly and I began to heal however during this uncertain time it came back. With all the strikes and my anxiety this trauma came back just as exam season hit, I couldn’t focus or do anything every time I would get a nightmare and then be anxious about my work plus the noise it was just too much for me to handle I stopped going to tutorials and didn’t ask for help because I thought I could handle it on my own however that was not the case. As stated before I am now consulting therapists about my anxiety and if they need to diagnose me with any other condition and to help me focus on my trauma and more healing regarding it as well. This will help me in the future when it comes to dealing with the anxiety and trauma if it comes up again and to figure out strategies to focus on my tasks at hand whether that is assignments or anything else as my anxiety also got in the way of a few other tasks during this academic year. I also have an academic plan ready as well beneath this petition.
Thanks for reading,
Andrew Quiroz
Queens student