Petition Letter
I am appealing to waive the 21-day notice period in order to have my failed mark in FILM 110 dropped, and to receive credit standing in POLS 110, SOCY 122, and PYCH 100 (Winter, 2013). I would also like to appeal the faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a year (active Fall 2014).
I did very poorly during my first year, which can be attributed to a lingering depression that I suffered during high school. More specifically, the depression caused a lack of motivation, which I am still partially dealing with. Due to the depression I lost a confidence in my academic ability. As a result, my motivation and drive to perform and attend school was not what it should have been. At the end of my first year in 2013, I spoke with an academic advisor who advised me that I should speak with Marlo Whitehead from the student health and disabilities services. I had a meeting with her in June 2013 where we discussed my issues. I have another meeting with Marlo on June 11th to follow up, and to request additional documentation to verify the legitimacy of my claim. In addition, the academic advisor told me that in the long run, these marks would not have a large impact on my schooling. I was unaware that the optimal process in order to secure my academic future would be to appeal the marks. During the summer of 2013, I did work with a life coach to try and get back on track. I am no longer depressed, however, I was only able to make a partial effort to pull my life back together, which is the reason for the large difference between my history marks and the other courses (of this past year). I do recognize I need to continue to address my issues around depression and am taking steps in that direction. This past year I worked with a peer mentor, but I realize that it was not enough, and I need to couple that with other resources offered by Queen¿¿s.
If this appeal is granted, and I am given the chance to appeal the faculty¿¿s decision to ask me to withdraw from the program for a year, I will take the steps that I should have taken last year and seek help from the many programs that Queen¿¿s has to offer. I have been speaking to Haley, one of the academic advisors at Queen¿¿s, about the steps I should be taking in order to get my future plan on track. I intend on switching into the history program, which Haley believes to possible, had I not been asked to withdraw. For now I will request a general degree in HIST and when my GPA is up to 1.90 I will request to switch into the Honours Plan. Monday the 9th is the day to request a late change in plan, and even though the chances are small that I will receive my program change, I plan on applying in any case. Haley also recommended to me that I take a smaller course load, and to not be overwhelmed while I am making this transition. However, I believe that having the regular 30-credit course load would be very manageable for me, and it would require me to focus my attention on time management, as well as essay and exam workshops. I need to start taking advantage of the programs offered by the Queen¿¿s Learning Commons, specifically, Motivation and Procrastination, Research and Essay Writing, Time Management, as well as visiting the Writing Center when I am having a hard time. When I have my meeting with Marlo on the 11th of June I plan on asking her about other resources that may be more specifically tailored to my needs. During my meeting with Marlo, I plan on asking if I can meet with her during the school year to help keep myself on track, and to talk about any issues if they are to arise. Even if your decision is against dropping the failed course and giving credit standing for the Ds in question, I would very much like to come back to Queen¿¿s next fall. If that is the case, and the courses are not dropped, Haley said I will need a C in all my classes at least to get off probation and above the 1.6 GPA mark. However, I am not going to make this my goal. I know I am capable of more than that. I made improvements last year, and my marks in my history courses are evidence of that. If I utilize the resources that are given to me as a student of Queen¿¿s I know I can achieve a B average at the end of this coming school year.
I did very poorly during my first year, which can be attributed to a lingering depression that I suffered during high school. More specifically, the depression caused a lack of motivation, which I am still partially dealing with. Due to the depression I lost a confidence in my academic ability. As a result, my motivation and drive to perform and attend school was not what it should have been. At the end of my first year in 2013, I spoke with an academic advisor who advised me that I should speak with Marlo Whitehead from the student health and disabilities services. I had a meeting with her in June 2013 where we discussed my issues. I have another meeting with Marlo on June 11th to follow up, and to request additional documentation to verify the legitimacy of my claim. In addition, the academic advisor told me that in the long run, these marks would not have a large impact on my schooling. I was unaware that the optimal process in order to secure my academic future would be to appeal the marks. During the summer of 2013, I did work with a life coach to try and get back on track. I am no longer depressed, however, I was only able to make a partial effort to pull my life back together, which is the reason for the large difference between my history marks and the other courses (of this past year). I do recognize I need to continue to address my issues around depression and am taking steps in that direction. This past year I worked with a peer mentor, but I realize that it was not enough, and I need to couple that with other resources offered by Queen¿¿s.
If this appeal is granted, and I am given the chance to appeal the faculty¿¿s decision to ask me to withdraw from the program for a year, I will take the steps that I should have taken last year and seek help from the many programs that Queen¿¿s has to offer. I have been speaking to Haley, one of the academic advisors at Queen¿¿s, about the steps I should be taking in order to get my future plan on track. I intend on switching into the history program, which Haley believes to possible, had I not been asked to withdraw. For now I will request a general degree in HIST and when my GPA is up to 1.90 I will request to switch into the Honours Plan. Monday the 9th is the day to request a late change in plan, and even though the chances are small that I will receive my program change, I plan on applying in any case. Haley also recommended to me that I take a smaller course load, and to not be overwhelmed while I am making this transition. However, I believe that having the regular 30-credit course load would be very manageable for me, and it would require me to focus my attention on time management, as well as essay and exam workshops. I need to start taking advantage of the programs offered by the Queen¿¿s Learning Commons, specifically, Motivation and Procrastination, Research and Essay Writing, Time Management, as well as visiting the Writing Center when I am having a hard time. When I have my meeting with Marlo on the 11th of June I plan on asking her about other resources that may be more specifically tailored to my needs. During my meeting with Marlo, I plan on asking if I can meet with her during the school year to help keep myself on track, and to talk about any issues if they are to arise. Even if your decision is against dropping the failed course and giving credit standing for the Ds in question, I would very much like to come back to Queen¿¿s next fall. If that is the case, and the courses are not dropped, Haley said I will need a C in all my classes at least to get off probation and above the 1.6 GPA mark. However, I am not going to make this my goal. I know I am capable of more than that. I made improvements last year, and my marks in my history courses are evidence of that. If I utilize the resources that are given to me as a student of Queen¿¿s I know I can achieve a B average at the end of this coming school year.