Petition Letter
To whom it may concern,
After speaking to an academic advisor and acknowledging a suggestion from one of my Winter Semester Professors I am applying to drop GPHY 102 and GPHY 339 and apply for a credit standing for GPHY 362 as a result of extenuating circumstances. In December 2017 my father passed away after a 5 month battle with an aggressive form of colon cancer. Despite knowing how sick he was, I thrived academically in the fall 2017 semester and received no mark below an A- in my final grades for that semester. As a result of his passing in the middle of exam season first semester, my professors graciously allowed me to write a final exam in January and another professor allowed me to write my final 12 page paper in the new year as well. As much as I appreciate my professors accommodations, I will admit that it put more on my plate the following semester in conjunction with my new courses for the winter semester. Despite this, I made the choice to return to Queen's for the Winter semester knowing it would have made my father proud and truly believing that I would be okay without being near my family and distracted by work. Unfortunately, towards the middle of the Winter semester grief seemed to hit me more and more and I found myself suffering from extreme anxiety and delayed suffering as a result of my fathers death. Although I thought I was okay to return I believe I should have taken less classes or have taken some time off to focus on myself. As a result of this, my grades and work ethic declined greatly. I found myself unable to sleep well or concentrate on work. I received accommodations from my professors however as the semester carried on my stress levels and delayed grief only escalated and I found myself in a period where I could barely concentrate on work, however did not even feel like I had time to focus on my mental health. I hope to spend the summer receiving grief counselling and working on my health so that I am able to achieve the same grades and mental health that I had in the fall semester before my fathers passing affected me in ways that I never thought possible. I want to be able to prove myself to my profs, my family, myself and my father because I know I can do better than I did in the Winter semester.
Thank you so much and I am extremely sorry for any inconvenience. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.
Madeline Mac Lean
After speaking to an academic advisor and acknowledging a suggestion from one of my Winter Semester Professors I am applying to drop GPHY 102 and GPHY 339 and apply for a credit standing for GPHY 362 as a result of extenuating circumstances. In December 2017 my father passed away after a 5 month battle with an aggressive form of colon cancer. Despite knowing how sick he was, I thrived academically in the fall 2017 semester and received no mark below an A- in my final grades for that semester. As a result of his passing in the middle of exam season first semester, my professors graciously allowed me to write a final exam in January and another professor allowed me to write my final 12 page paper in the new year as well. As much as I appreciate my professors accommodations, I will admit that it put more on my plate the following semester in conjunction with my new courses for the winter semester. Despite this, I made the choice to return to Queen's for the Winter semester knowing it would have made my father proud and truly believing that I would be okay without being near my family and distracted by work. Unfortunately, towards the middle of the Winter semester grief seemed to hit me more and more and I found myself suffering from extreme anxiety and delayed suffering as a result of my fathers death. Although I thought I was okay to return I believe I should have taken less classes or have taken some time off to focus on myself. As a result of this, my grades and work ethic declined greatly. I found myself unable to sleep well or concentrate on work. I received accommodations from my professors however as the semester carried on my stress levels and delayed grief only escalated and I found myself in a period where I could barely concentrate on work, however did not even feel like I had time to focus on my mental health. I hope to spend the summer receiving grief counselling and working on my health so that I am able to achieve the same grades and mental health that I had in the fall semester before my fathers passing affected me in ways that I never thought possible. I want to be able to prove myself to my profs, my family, myself and my father because I know I can do better than I did in the Winter semester.
Thank you so much and I am extremely sorry for any inconvenience. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.
Madeline Mac Lean