Petition Letter
The appeal is being submitted for consideration to waive the 21-day or one-term deadline, in order to appeal grades impacted through the extenuating circumstances of mental health issues through the Fall 2013-Winter 2015 study year periods. Within this two-year time frame ¿¿ in my second and third years here at Queen¿¿s ¿¿ I began, through an amalgamation of personal stress, familial strain, and genetics, to develop undiagnosed mental health issues, which deeply impacted my ability to function in fundamental daily sense, let alone academically. At the time, I was living at home with my mother while studying.
As my illness became progressively worse, I was taken to Kingston General Hospital Emergency Care, where I received psychiatric help and, following this, was referred and admitted into the Hotel Dieu Early Psychosis Intervention Program known as ¿¿Heads Up¿. In this program, I was receiving help from a Psychologist, who offered therapy and prescribed proper medications, as well as a Case Worker, who helped me focus on healing through practical goals, mental health activities, et cetera. I was diagnosed as suffering with high level anxiety, depression, and symptoms of early onset psychosis, including paranoia.
As I received help through this program over the course of roughly two years, I continued with my classes, only to struggle with my own capacity to function and academic stress, in addition my mental health. Upon receiving failures for near every course, I felt it appropriate to take a year off of classes and focus on self-care. From Fall 2015 to Winter 2016, I took an academic leave-of-absence, left the Heads Up Program, and switched from a part-time to a full-time position at Pan Chancho Bakery and Café. Over the course of that year, I progressively, albeit slowly, regained my capability to function at my former, ambitious capacity.
By September 2016, I was no longer on any medication and found myself excited to return and complete my degree. The return to classes was a learning curve, as my time away from academia saw additional difficulty in keeping up. My grades from the Fall-Winter 2016-17 period range, showing the initial struggle to resettle into the workload and mode of academic writing, but they also reflect the capability to do well with B¿¿s and A¿¿s present. This explanation aims to underscore the process by which I lapsed on processing both my need for appeal ¿¿ too intensely focused on keeping up rather than looking to my transcript itself ¿¿ and the circumstances which lead to its necessity.
Beginning this year, the third technical year of my degree program, I see the end of my undergraduate degree and hope to follow academia into the Masters and, perhaps, Doctoral levels. I aim to follow this academic ambition and passion despite the severe academic setbacks of mental health. As my mental state sees renewed academic dedication, taking form of future-oriented thinking rather than daily presentism, these applications seem fast approaching. I hope through the process of this explanation, my ability to work towards a strong GPA, as well as the ability to appeal grades and their respective deadlines is recognized as also being impacted. I hope then that the opportunity to appeal this deadline and, following that, the ability to appeal my grades from Fall 2013 to Winter 2015 due to extenuating circumstances is deemed sufficient.
As my illness became progressively worse, I was taken to Kingston General Hospital Emergency Care, where I received psychiatric help and, following this, was referred and admitted into the Hotel Dieu Early Psychosis Intervention Program known as ¿¿Heads Up¿. In this program, I was receiving help from a Psychologist, who offered therapy and prescribed proper medications, as well as a Case Worker, who helped me focus on healing through practical goals, mental health activities, et cetera. I was diagnosed as suffering with high level anxiety, depression, and symptoms of early onset psychosis, including paranoia.
As I received help through this program over the course of roughly two years, I continued with my classes, only to struggle with my own capacity to function and academic stress, in addition my mental health. Upon receiving failures for near every course, I felt it appropriate to take a year off of classes and focus on self-care. From Fall 2015 to Winter 2016, I took an academic leave-of-absence, left the Heads Up Program, and switched from a part-time to a full-time position at Pan Chancho Bakery and Café. Over the course of that year, I progressively, albeit slowly, regained my capability to function at my former, ambitious capacity.
By September 2016, I was no longer on any medication and found myself excited to return and complete my degree. The return to classes was a learning curve, as my time away from academia saw additional difficulty in keeping up. My grades from the Fall-Winter 2016-17 period range, showing the initial struggle to resettle into the workload and mode of academic writing, but they also reflect the capability to do well with B¿¿s and A¿¿s present. This explanation aims to underscore the process by which I lapsed on processing both my need for appeal ¿¿ too intensely focused on keeping up rather than looking to my transcript itself ¿¿ and the circumstances which lead to its necessity.
Beginning this year, the third technical year of my degree program, I see the end of my undergraduate degree and hope to follow academia into the Masters and, perhaps, Doctoral levels. I aim to follow this academic ambition and passion despite the severe academic setbacks of mental health. As my mental state sees renewed academic dedication, taking form of future-oriented thinking rather than daily presentism, these applications seem fast approaching. I hope through the process of this explanation, my ability to work towards a strong GPA, as well as the ability to appeal grades and their respective deadlines is recognized as also being impacted. I hope then that the opportunity to appeal this deadline and, following that, the ability to appeal my grades from Fall 2013 to Winter 2015 due to extenuating circumstances is deemed sufficient.