Petition Letter
To Dr. Stephenson, Associate Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,
My name is Aaron Tan (student ID 20240906), and I am a first year student writing to appeal the Faculty's decision to require me to withdraw from Queen's University for one year until Sept 2022 (due to academic probation).
I would like to write and explain extenuating personal circumstances affecting my academic performance this past academic year. I had initially started off the school year strong, adjusting well to university workload and achieving good marks through the first few weeks of studies. Unfortunately, about three weeks into September 2020, I began to experience what has now been retroactively diagnosed by my physician as an untreated episode of major depression that lasted throughout the school year. During this time, I experienced daily symptoms of low mood, poor concentration, and very low levels of energy to the point where for the majority of the first semester I was mostly sleeping in bed throughout the day and having difficulty or motivation even just to get up to go to the student cafeteria for one meal a day. Most of the days I did not have the energy or concentration to attend classes nor fulfill my academic duties and I subsequently fell very behind in coursework. During the few interspersed good days throughout the school year in which I had enough energy to function academically, I drew up a study schedule to commit myself to a study regimen for my classes and catch up on my readings, but my depressive episode remained untreated and more days than not I did not end up having the energy to get up from my bed and fully commit myself to studying.
Because of my undiagnosed/untreated depressive symptoms severely impacting my academic abilities, I ended up failing three courses in the first semester. In hindsight, I realize I should have recognized the severity of my situation and should have proactively started seeking academic and medical support much earlier on, but I was truly struggling just to get up from bed every day and I did not have the mental energy or motivation to figure out or how to get help on campus, nor the energy to reach out to family or friends to ask for their help (myself and my family both have high academic expectations for myself and at that time I was feeling too drained to fully explain my situation to them). I was unable to seek help until late into the second semester, when an upperclassman told me about the many support resources Queens had for its students in similar situations such as contacting an academic advisor or the Student Wellness Services. Unfortunately by then, it was too late to fully recover my grades by the end of the semester.
I have since sought further mental health support from my family physician who is now actively managing and supporting me, and I also have a referral in place to see a psychiatrist for further care. I have also been receiving ongoing mental health counselling from a social worker, which has been quite helpful so far. I am now doing much better mentally than I was during the previous school year, and so far have been succeeding academically in PHYS118, maintaining a grade far above what I had during the previous school year. I have also familiarized myself with the various mental health resources and supports available when I return to campus e.g. Student Wellness Services appointments, Therapy Assistance Online, etc and will not hesitate to reach out to them next time should I need further support. Moving forward, I'm confident that I will be well-equipped with the skills and well-supported professionally to recognize and immediately address and manage any further mental health episodes without having it negatively affect my future studies.
Beyond mental health wellness, I have also identified that improved study habits will also go a long way in complementing my academic studies, so I have been learning new time management techniques and effective studying e.g. Pomodoro technique, and have already committed to a weekly study group with my housemates for the upcoming year to keep each other accountable. I have also been actively researching and applying new learning strategies such as active learning, mind mapping, and spaced repetition (please see academic plan for full details).
Overall, I feel that I have demonstrated an ability to perform well academically outside of the aforementioned resolved extenuating circumstances, and I hope to be able to progress within my program.
Thank you very much for your consideration of my appeal,
Sincerely,
Aaron Tan
My name is Aaron Tan (student ID 20240906), and I am a first year student writing to appeal the Faculty's decision to require me to withdraw from Queen's University for one year until Sept 2022 (due to academic probation).
I would like to write and explain extenuating personal circumstances affecting my academic performance this past academic year. I had initially started off the school year strong, adjusting well to university workload and achieving good marks through the first few weeks of studies. Unfortunately, about three weeks into September 2020, I began to experience what has now been retroactively diagnosed by my physician as an untreated episode of major depression that lasted throughout the school year. During this time, I experienced daily symptoms of low mood, poor concentration, and very low levels of energy to the point where for the majority of the first semester I was mostly sleeping in bed throughout the day and having difficulty or motivation even just to get up to go to the student cafeteria for one meal a day. Most of the days I did not have the energy or concentration to attend classes nor fulfill my academic duties and I subsequently fell very behind in coursework. During the few interspersed good days throughout the school year in which I had enough energy to function academically, I drew up a study schedule to commit myself to a study regimen for my classes and catch up on my readings, but my depressive episode remained untreated and more days than not I did not end up having the energy to get up from my bed and fully commit myself to studying.
Because of my undiagnosed/untreated depressive symptoms severely impacting my academic abilities, I ended up failing three courses in the first semester. In hindsight, I realize I should have recognized the severity of my situation and should have proactively started seeking academic and medical support much earlier on, but I was truly struggling just to get up from bed every day and I did not have the mental energy or motivation to figure out or how to get help on campus, nor the energy to reach out to family or friends to ask for their help (myself and my family both have high academic expectations for myself and at that time I was feeling too drained to fully explain my situation to them). I was unable to seek help until late into the second semester, when an upperclassman told me about the many support resources Queens had for its students in similar situations such as contacting an academic advisor or the Student Wellness Services. Unfortunately by then, it was too late to fully recover my grades by the end of the semester.
I have since sought further mental health support from my family physician who is now actively managing and supporting me, and I also have a referral in place to see a psychiatrist for further care. I have also been receiving ongoing mental health counselling from a social worker, which has been quite helpful so far. I am now doing much better mentally than I was during the previous school year, and so far have been succeeding academically in PHYS118, maintaining a grade far above what I had during the previous school year. I have also familiarized myself with the various mental health resources and supports available when I return to campus e.g. Student Wellness Services appointments, Therapy Assistance Online, etc and will not hesitate to reach out to them next time should I need further support. Moving forward, I'm confident that I will be well-equipped with the skills and well-supported professionally to recognize and immediately address and manage any further mental health episodes without having it negatively affect my future studies.
Beyond mental health wellness, I have also identified that improved study habits will also go a long way in complementing my academic studies, so I have been learning new time management techniques and effective studying e.g. Pomodoro technique, and have already committed to a weekly study group with my housemates for the upcoming year to keep each other accountable. I have also been actively researching and applying new learning strategies such as active learning, mind mapping, and spaced repetition (please see academic plan for full details).
Overall, I feel that I have demonstrated an ability to perform well academically outside of the aforementioned resolved extenuating circumstances, and I hope to be able to progress within my program.
Thank you very much for your consideration of my appeal,
Sincerely,
Aaron Tan