Petition Letter
Matthew Rezkalla
CISC 351 Appeal Late Drop
March 9, 2021
Dear Associate Dean:
I am writing this letter in the hopes that I can appeal CISC 351 (Advanced Data Analytics - Winter, 2021), as well as the DR that I would receive on my transcript if I could drop it late.
The academic penalty deadline was March 5, 2021. I have known this for over a month now. I have been keeping it in mind the entire month as this term has been one of the hardest terms I have had so far, if not the hardest. I am taking a full course load; all 5 courses are CISC courses, and they are some of the hardest in the degree plan. I am writing this letter on the night of March 8th, 2021, as I have just finished two of my other assignments and am considering working all night to finish my CISC 351 assignment due tomorrow, again. I have had 10+ meetings with 10+ different people only today. Half of them were a result of my course load, the other half were discussing my mental health and the steps I should take forward to stay healthy and safe. Two of these people are the academic advisors for the Computing department, and one main person is a professional psychiatrist that I have been seeing every 1-2 months since summer. I have been much busier than I can imagine, and last week (the week of March 5th) I had to go back to Toronto, from Kingston, for the entire week because of my family. During this week I could barely get work done, I was dealing with family issues, and my mental health had gone through one of the worst episodes it has gone through this year.
I am majoring in artificial intelligence and minoring in philosophy. I am tenacious, hard-working, and concise. I have been planning my degree for years, almost for fun. This past year has been the most challenging of my life, and that bar is not low. I began getting professional help in September (my psychiatrist) and have been working hard to get through a very educationally challenging year as well. I had originally planned to also do the data certificate, but I am coming to the conclusion that I may have bit off much more than I can chew. I have had multiple meetings with my academic advisors within this past month. After taking their advice and individually reflecting for weeks, I decided to tough out the 3 courses I had left for my certificate: CISC 351 (Winter, 2021), CISC 181 (Summer, 2021), and CISC 451 (4th year). I thought I could tough it out; I no longer think I can tough it out, more importantly, I don't think I should. My mental health has taken a back seat my entire life and this year has shown me that that may have been a mistake. I don't get much professional help, finances are very low for my family, and I don't think the priority should be this data certificate right now.
I missed the deadline and I genuinely apologize. I was trying to keep it in mind but the last week took precedence over not only this deadline, but all of my schoolwork, and I only got back to Kingston Saturday. In the interest of my mental health, I am requesting lenience to drop CISC 351. I am also requesting that the DR not be placed on my transcript because I have only missed the deadline by a couple days, due to an extenuating circumstance that a professional psychiatrist can attest to. The data certificate is relatively new, and I did not know a lot when applying for it. I did not know it would add extra courses and I did not know that the certificate shows up on the transcript (when you enter it and exit it). Dropping CISC 351 means I am also planning to drop the certificate, which will now tarnish my record. When thinking of applying in second year, I was told that the certificate was optional so I entered thinking I could leave without penalty - I feel pretty mislead. If that could be taken off the record too, honestly, I think that would be reasonable; but I am also reasonable enough to accept what I can get and be grateful. I want to do good for the world. I want to help regulate AI and help create policies that protect people, promoting ethical technological advancement and helping as much as I can. I made a mistake with the deadline and have put my mental health in the backseat - I would like to change that with the permission of the Queen's administrative office.
Sincerely,
Matthew Rezkalla
20103458
CISC 351 Appeal Late Drop
March 9, 2021
Dear Associate Dean:
I am writing this letter in the hopes that I can appeal CISC 351 (Advanced Data Analytics - Winter, 2021), as well as the DR that I would receive on my transcript if I could drop it late.
The academic penalty deadline was March 5, 2021. I have known this for over a month now. I have been keeping it in mind the entire month as this term has been one of the hardest terms I have had so far, if not the hardest. I am taking a full course load; all 5 courses are CISC courses, and they are some of the hardest in the degree plan. I am writing this letter on the night of March 8th, 2021, as I have just finished two of my other assignments and am considering working all night to finish my CISC 351 assignment due tomorrow, again. I have had 10+ meetings with 10+ different people only today. Half of them were a result of my course load, the other half were discussing my mental health and the steps I should take forward to stay healthy and safe. Two of these people are the academic advisors for the Computing department, and one main person is a professional psychiatrist that I have been seeing every 1-2 months since summer. I have been much busier than I can imagine, and last week (the week of March 5th) I had to go back to Toronto, from Kingston, for the entire week because of my family. During this week I could barely get work done, I was dealing with family issues, and my mental health had gone through one of the worst episodes it has gone through this year.
I am majoring in artificial intelligence and minoring in philosophy. I am tenacious, hard-working, and concise. I have been planning my degree for years, almost for fun. This past year has been the most challenging of my life, and that bar is not low. I began getting professional help in September (my psychiatrist) and have been working hard to get through a very educationally challenging year as well. I had originally planned to also do the data certificate, but I am coming to the conclusion that I may have bit off much more than I can chew. I have had multiple meetings with my academic advisors within this past month. After taking their advice and individually reflecting for weeks, I decided to tough out the 3 courses I had left for my certificate: CISC 351 (Winter, 2021), CISC 181 (Summer, 2021), and CISC 451 (4th year). I thought I could tough it out; I no longer think I can tough it out, more importantly, I don't think I should. My mental health has taken a back seat my entire life and this year has shown me that that may have been a mistake. I don't get much professional help, finances are very low for my family, and I don't think the priority should be this data certificate right now.
I missed the deadline and I genuinely apologize. I was trying to keep it in mind but the last week took precedence over not only this deadline, but all of my schoolwork, and I only got back to Kingston Saturday. In the interest of my mental health, I am requesting lenience to drop CISC 351. I am also requesting that the DR not be placed on my transcript because I have only missed the deadline by a couple days, due to an extenuating circumstance that a professional psychiatrist can attest to. The data certificate is relatively new, and I did not know a lot when applying for it. I did not know it would add extra courses and I did not know that the certificate shows up on the transcript (when you enter it and exit it). Dropping CISC 351 means I am also planning to drop the certificate, which will now tarnish my record. When thinking of applying in second year, I was told that the certificate was optional so I entered thinking I could leave without penalty - I feel pretty mislead. If that could be taken off the record too, honestly, I think that would be reasonable; but I am also reasonable enough to accept what I can get and be grateful. I want to do good for the world. I want to help regulate AI and help create policies that protect people, promoting ethical technological advancement and helping as much as I can. I made a mistake with the deadline and have put my mental health in the backseat - I would like to change that with the permission of the Queen's administrative office.
Sincerely,
Matthew Rezkalla
20103458