Petition Letter
The past six months have been very mentally and emotionally challenging as I have struggled to find a healthy way to cope with the loss of my great aunt who raised me, the separation of my parents, and my sense of failure for coming back to Queen's for a fifth undergraduate year. I've struggled to find the motivation to get out of bed and coming from a very traditional Chinese family, seeking professional help was not an option. It wasn't until my Aunt who heard about everything told my parents about the need for professional help to help me deal with my mental health. Due to those circumstances, my family moved me home to get some help and I missed the first 7 weeks of school. The past few weeks have been extremely overwhelming, as I have had to play catch up in all of my courses, unable to really understand and enjoy the content as I was scrambling to make up marks in every single one of my courses. On top of that, I have continued to struggle in finding appropriate sources of help for my mental health.
Due to those circumstances, I was unable to keep up with BIOL 360. I truly believe that I have done everything in my power to do the best I could this semester, to catch up and excel with the four other courses I have been taking, but as much as I tried it was too much to try for BIOL 360. I was extremely afraid to drop the course and would have irrational panic attacks if I though about it for too long. Although I reached out the professor as soon as I was able to, I had missed too much of the class to be able to succeed in the course. I tried my very hardest to come up with a plan to do well in the course as I wanted to ensure that I did every single thing possible to do well in the course, but Professor Lefevbre suggested that it would be in my best interest to appeal to drop out of the course. I understand the circumstances from his point of view, but I truly believe there was not an opportunity for me, given the circumstances, to do well in the course. He referred me to Dr. Nelson to further discuss my options and Dr. Nelson also suggested that it was the right thing to do in this situation, and that is why I am appealing today to drop our of BIOL 360.
I have had an extremely rough start to my final year at Queen's but I have been and will continue to work my hardest to make the best of it. I am requesting to waive the 21 day deadline as, due to my late return to Queen's, my priority lied in attending everything single remaining lecture for my classes and additionally meeting with everything prof and TA over multiple weeks to catch up with all of my work. At the same time, I am trying my best to sort everything out academically and with my mental health so that I am set up for success in the New Year and hopefully my final and best semester here at Queen's.
Due to those circumstances, I was unable to keep up with BIOL 360. I truly believe that I have done everything in my power to do the best I could this semester, to catch up and excel with the four other courses I have been taking, but as much as I tried it was too much to try for BIOL 360. I was extremely afraid to drop the course and would have irrational panic attacks if I though about it for too long. Although I reached out the professor as soon as I was able to, I had missed too much of the class to be able to succeed in the course. I tried my very hardest to come up with a plan to do well in the course as I wanted to ensure that I did every single thing possible to do well in the course, but Professor Lefevbre suggested that it would be in my best interest to appeal to drop out of the course. I understand the circumstances from his point of view, but I truly believe there was not an opportunity for me, given the circumstances, to do well in the course. He referred me to Dr. Nelson to further discuss my options and Dr. Nelson also suggested that it was the right thing to do in this situation, and that is why I am appealing today to drop our of BIOL 360.
I have had an extremely rough start to my final year at Queen's but I have been and will continue to work my hardest to make the best of it. I am requesting to waive the 21 day deadline as, due to my late return to Queen's, my priority lied in attending everything single remaining lecture for my classes and additionally meeting with everything prof and TA over multiple weeks to catch up with all of my work. At the same time, I am trying my best to sort everything out academically and with my mental health so that I am set up for success in the New Year and hopefully my final and best semester here at Queen's.