Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,
My name is Emma Clark and I am a third year Life Sciences student here at Queen¿¿s. I am writing to request that you waive the 21-day deadline for me to submit an appeal. I was first informed of this appeal process via an academic advisor earlier today and wish to access this process.
In January of 2016, I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder by a physician at LaSalle, as well as a psychiatrist at CDK. I had begun struggling with symptoms of MDD halfway through my first semester of second year and was referred to the physician at LaSalle by Freeman Woolnough, a residence counsellor. The Loran Scholars program that I am a part of required me to live in residence for my first and second year, so I was working as a House President in Smith House at this time. The MDD, combined with the isolation of living in an upper year residence with no option to leave, created a very negative environment for me and I struggled a lot with my academics. I found myself unable to focus and I would become very distressed when in a quiet place trying to read over and memorize information. Once I was diagnosed, I was put on medication that had numerous side effects. One of the major effects on me was anxiety, which caused me to have panic attacks while in my chemistry labs and in Douglas Library. At this point in time, I contacted the Loran Scholars Foundation to ask them to allow me to drop a course as usually I am required to take a full course load. I ended up dropping MICR 221 as I thought it would help me put more time into my other courses. I was able to do quite well is both GNDS 215 and PSYC 100 as GNDS required less focus since it was a course with minimal memorization. PSYC was a combination of application and memorization; however, I seemed to be learning a lot of the material through my own experiences of dealing with my mental health and was able to succeed. Unfortunately, I needed to be in a quiet place in order to memorize material for courses like CHEM 282 and PHGY 214. I was not in a position where this was possible since time alone also lead me to self-harming behaviours. Most of my major depressive episode lasted from December 2015 until April 2016 and left a significant and lasting impact on my winter semester marks.
During the semester, I sought help from some of the counsellors at LaSalle as well as from Freeman. I also continued to take the medication prescribed to me by Dr. Banic at CDK. Since April I have slowly been able to get my life back on track and am taking many steps to ensure that it stays this way. I have moved into a house with two good friends, continue to see Dr. Banic, as well as keeping myself active and engaged in the Queen¿¿s community. I am also trying to change into a Health major so that I can take less courses that are memorization based and allow myself to succeed even with my current circumstances.
I would really appreciate you waiving the 21-day appeal date since I believe that these circumstances were outside of my control and led me to a place where I could not be successful with my academics. I would appreciate being able to appeal to drop my CHEM 282 grade, as well as count PHGY 214 as a credit with no grade attached.
Regards,
Emma Clark
My name is Emma Clark and I am a third year Life Sciences student here at Queen¿¿s. I am writing to request that you waive the 21-day deadline for me to submit an appeal. I was first informed of this appeal process via an academic advisor earlier today and wish to access this process.
In January of 2016, I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder by a physician at LaSalle, as well as a psychiatrist at CDK. I had begun struggling with symptoms of MDD halfway through my first semester of second year and was referred to the physician at LaSalle by Freeman Woolnough, a residence counsellor. The Loran Scholars program that I am a part of required me to live in residence for my first and second year, so I was working as a House President in Smith House at this time. The MDD, combined with the isolation of living in an upper year residence with no option to leave, created a very negative environment for me and I struggled a lot with my academics. I found myself unable to focus and I would become very distressed when in a quiet place trying to read over and memorize information. Once I was diagnosed, I was put on medication that had numerous side effects. One of the major effects on me was anxiety, which caused me to have panic attacks while in my chemistry labs and in Douglas Library. At this point in time, I contacted the Loran Scholars Foundation to ask them to allow me to drop a course as usually I am required to take a full course load. I ended up dropping MICR 221 as I thought it would help me put more time into my other courses. I was able to do quite well is both GNDS 215 and PSYC 100 as GNDS required less focus since it was a course with minimal memorization. PSYC was a combination of application and memorization; however, I seemed to be learning a lot of the material through my own experiences of dealing with my mental health and was able to succeed. Unfortunately, I needed to be in a quiet place in order to memorize material for courses like CHEM 282 and PHGY 214. I was not in a position where this was possible since time alone also lead me to self-harming behaviours. Most of my major depressive episode lasted from December 2015 until April 2016 and left a significant and lasting impact on my winter semester marks.
During the semester, I sought help from some of the counsellors at LaSalle as well as from Freeman. I also continued to take the medication prescribed to me by Dr. Banic at CDK. Since April I have slowly been able to get my life back on track and am taking many steps to ensure that it stays this way. I have moved into a house with two good friends, continue to see Dr. Banic, as well as keeping myself active and engaged in the Queen¿¿s community. I am also trying to change into a Health major so that I can take less courses that are memorization based and allow myself to succeed even with my current circumstances.
I would really appreciate you waiving the 21-day appeal date since I believe that these circumstances were outside of my control and led me to a place where I could not be successful with my academics. I would appreciate being able to appeal to drop my CHEM 282 grade, as well as count PHGY 214 as a credit with no grade attached.
Regards,
Emma Clark