Petition Letter
During the 2017-2018 school year, I experienced many episodes of trauma which led to my failure in the SPAN111 course during the Summer Semester. In September of 2017, I did a root canal surgery in my home town, Pond Inlet, Nunavut. The surgery was unsuccessful and I had to be medevacked to Ontario to do an emergency corrective procedure. This was the beginning of what turned out to be my most difficult year at Queen¿¿s University. By the time I got back home, I was crammed with assignments and eventually dropped two of the six courses I was taking because I was stressed, anxious, and mentally depressed. Bear in mind that I am also a full time employee and a single father. In addition, as a resident of Nunavut we are often faced with power outage, internet malfunction, or inclement weather which affects the day-to-day operations of work or study.
On November 16, 2017, I was not feeling well at work but I pushed myself towards the end of the work day. I was found unconscious on the bathroom floor and was medevacked to Ottawa Civic Hospital where I was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I was in the hospital until December 6, 2017. I pushed myself to get out of the hospital to sit my end of semester exams. The professors worked with me to complete my outstanding assignments before marks were due. After the exams I went in for an emergency procedure and as a result I was not able to resume my studies until towards the end of January. Again, I was crammed with over due assignments and course readings, but I refused to give up and my professors were cheering me on so I didn¿¿t want to give up. Despite having to contend with the sometimes unbearable side-effects of my treatment plan, I managed to finish the semester with through alternate assignments and extended deadlines.
Being the self-motivated individual that I am, I was ready to take on the Summer Semester. I was very excited about taking SPAN111 because it¿¿s a language that I have always found fascinating. However, on May 9, 2018, I got one of the most heartbreaking news that my beloved grandmother who raised me had passed away. As a result, I was very stressed, depressed, and confused. I just could not find the motivation to do anything. I flew out of town for the funeral arrangements and she was laid to rest on May 18, 2018. However, my state of mind, health, and physical strength was just not cooperating with me. I reached out to my professors and we made arrangements to complete overdue assignments. Meeting those deadlines was just not forth coming. Of the four courses I was taking, two of them were ending in June so I had to focus on completing those assignments first. At the same time, I was getting ready to move to Ontario for the Summer to be with my family so I could have a support system. During all this I was trying to cope with the traumatic experiences I had encountered in the past months, and from time to time I wold breakdown, lose focus, and feel overly depressed.
In the mist of it all, another crisis happened. My mom got ill and I have to make the transition much faster than originally planned. At this point I thought of taking the semester off but it was already too late considering that the May/June semester was coming to an end. With so much happening at the same time, I lost my focus, the side-effects to my treatment were worst and sometimes made me feel so drained that I lost the energy and zeal to read or complete assignments. As a result of so much missed assignments I received an undesirable grade for one of my May/June courses. Although I was stressed, depressed, drained, and burnout, I still didn¿¿t want to give up because I was close to completing my degree with Queen¿¿s University. Things did not calm down until almost mid-July. I reached out to my SPAN111 professor feeling disappointed that I wasn¿¿t meeting the deadlines, and I was failing the course. She didn¿¿t offer much of an alternative plan, instead she recommended that I dropped the course. I contacted my academic advisor, explained the though spot I found myself, and he instructed me to stop working on course work and to not sit the exam because we could do an appeal. For the course work that I did submit in the course, I received an ¿¿A¿, which suggests that had I not been in such a tough spot earlier in the course, I could have received a fairly good overall mark.
With this letter of appeal, I am kindly asking you to consider the circumstances leading my eventual failure of the SPAN111 course worthy of having the course removed from my transcript.
On November 16, 2017, I was not feeling well at work but I pushed myself towards the end of the work day. I was found unconscious on the bathroom floor and was medevacked to Ottawa Civic Hospital where I was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I was in the hospital until December 6, 2017. I pushed myself to get out of the hospital to sit my end of semester exams. The professors worked with me to complete my outstanding assignments before marks were due. After the exams I went in for an emergency procedure and as a result I was not able to resume my studies until towards the end of January. Again, I was crammed with over due assignments and course readings, but I refused to give up and my professors were cheering me on so I didn¿¿t want to give up. Despite having to contend with the sometimes unbearable side-effects of my treatment plan, I managed to finish the semester with through alternate assignments and extended deadlines.
Being the self-motivated individual that I am, I was ready to take on the Summer Semester. I was very excited about taking SPAN111 because it¿¿s a language that I have always found fascinating. However, on May 9, 2018, I got one of the most heartbreaking news that my beloved grandmother who raised me had passed away. As a result, I was very stressed, depressed, and confused. I just could not find the motivation to do anything. I flew out of town for the funeral arrangements and she was laid to rest on May 18, 2018. However, my state of mind, health, and physical strength was just not cooperating with me. I reached out to my professors and we made arrangements to complete overdue assignments. Meeting those deadlines was just not forth coming. Of the four courses I was taking, two of them were ending in June so I had to focus on completing those assignments first. At the same time, I was getting ready to move to Ontario for the Summer to be with my family so I could have a support system. During all this I was trying to cope with the traumatic experiences I had encountered in the past months, and from time to time I wold breakdown, lose focus, and feel overly depressed.
In the mist of it all, another crisis happened. My mom got ill and I have to make the transition much faster than originally planned. At this point I thought of taking the semester off but it was already too late considering that the May/June semester was coming to an end. With so much happening at the same time, I lost my focus, the side-effects to my treatment were worst and sometimes made me feel so drained that I lost the energy and zeal to read or complete assignments. As a result of so much missed assignments I received an undesirable grade for one of my May/June courses. Although I was stressed, depressed, drained, and burnout, I still didn¿¿t want to give up because I was close to completing my degree with Queen¿¿s University. Things did not calm down until almost mid-July. I reached out to my SPAN111 professor feeling disappointed that I wasn¿¿t meeting the deadlines, and I was failing the course. She didn¿¿t offer much of an alternative plan, instead she recommended that I dropped the course. I contacted my academic advisor, explained the though spot I found myself, and he instructed me to stop working on course work and to not sit the exam because we could do an appeal. For the course work that I did submit in the course, I received an ¿¿A¿, which suggests that had I not been in such a tough spot earlier in the course, I could have received a fairly good overall mark.
With this letter of appeal, I am kindly asking you to consider the circumstances leading my eventual failure of the SPAN111 course worthy of having the course removed from my transcript.