Petition Letter
Dr Jenn Stephenson,
Associate Dean (Academic)
I am writing to kindly ask if you would waive the deadline to appeal for dropping courses and consider my appeal. I am writing this letter in order to appeal to drop (DR): SOCY 284 (Fall, 2020), SOCY 306 (Fall, 2020), and SOCY 336 (Fall, 2020) from my transcript. I am respectfully asking that you consider my appeal, despite the time that has passed for the drop date for these courses. I was living with extenuating circumstances in the fall and winter of 2020/21 and for these reasons my circumstances prevented me from writing this appeal earlier. I have been working with my psychologist and my mental health has improved and I now feel I am in a healthier state presently. I am taking the initiative to reach out and kindly ask for your consideration and support.
I am enrolled in the general degree, in the sociology major at Queen's University and I am currently enrolled in my final courses to complete my degree requirements. I have previously dealt with mental health issues that have hindered and challenged my schoolwork, and I seeked help to deal with these obstacles and I was feeling better. Unfortunately, I was faced with yet another setback in the last half of 2020. During this time the transitions forced by COVID-19 that confined me to my house had really impacted my mental health and prevented me from being able to complete my responsibilities for my courses. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the financial impact forced me to abruptly leave my Queen's environment, and my friends and return home. I was at home for the full time of my fourth year and like everyone else I did my best to adjust to all the transition, challenges and changes. All of a sudden, I left Queen's unexpectedly and came home to finish my final year. I am a student with various learning disabilities and this was an even more challenging learning environment for me and extremely isolating. In addition, throughout the fall semester of 2020, due to feelings of isolation and depression, I lost my motivation and drive to make it out of bed most days. Considering I wasn't getting out of bed most days, my brain had very little capacity for schoolwork, and as I fell further and further behind in my academic work, my anxiety and depression grew and began to fuel each other making it even harder to pull myself out or seek help. I just sank deeper. It wasn't until nearing the end of the fall semester (2020) that I was able to seek help from my family and then I reached out for professional help through my therapist. I attempted to make up for the work missed at school. I had reached out to all my professors and tried to explain my situation, but too much was already missed that I could not possibly catch up and pass the courses and no one was able to offer any further support. I appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic forced many others into a transition and made life very undesirable, yet due to my struggles with mental health I sunk into a pretty deep dark place that hindered me from living a normal life within the standards of what's considered normal during this pandemic and all of this negatively impacted my grades. After seeking help and support from my psychologist through weekly sessions and a lot of growth and hard work throughout the remainder of the academic year, I was able to do much better in the winter semester (2021). I began to feel better and I was able to complete three courses successfully in the winter semester. I am currently enrolled in two summer courses and one last one remaining to complete my degree at Queen's.
I have tried to provide context for what has happened to me in the fall 2020 semester and how it has impacted my health and as a result my grades, as I do care about my academic future and wish to continue on with school after my Queen's degree. I am kindly asking that you would please consider my appeal to drop (DR) the following courses from my transcript: (SOCY 284) Info./Communication Technology, (SOCY 306) Consumer Culture, and (SOCY 336) The Sociology of Work & Tech. I am optimistic and I am doing my best to successfully complete my Queen's degree. I have academic aspirations that I hope to succeed in after the completion of this degree. Despite the challenges I face through mental health issues I still aspire to continue with my post-secondary education after I complete my Queen's degree and dropping these grades would subsequently help me continue with my education as well as push past the obstacles I have faced.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my request.
Respectfully,
Matthew Gionnas
Associate Dean (Academic)
I am writing to kindly ask if you would waive the deadline to appeal for dropping courses and consider my appeal. I am writing this letter in order to appeal to drop (DR): SOCY 284 (Fall, 2020), SOCY 306 (Fall, 2020), and SOCY 336 (Fall, 2020) from my transcript. I am respectfully asking that you consider my appeal, despite the time that has passed for the drop date for these courses. I was living with extenuating circumstances in the fall and winter of 2020/21 and for these reasons my circumstances prevented me from writing this appeal earlier. I have been working with my psychologist and my mental health has improved and I now feel I am in a healthier state presently. I am taking the initiative to reach out and kindly ask for your consideration and support.
I am enrolled in the general degree, in the sociology major at Queen's University and I am currently enrolled in my final courses to complete my degree requirements. I have previously dealt with mental health issues that have hindered and challenged my schoolwork, and I seeked help to deal with these obstacles and I was feeling better. Unfortunately, I was faced with yet another setback in the last half of 2020. During this time the transitions forced by COVID-19 that confined me to my house had really impacted my mental health and prevented me from being able to complete my responsibilities for my courses. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the financial impact forced me to abruptly leave my Queen's environment, and my friends and return home. I was at home for the full time of my fourth year and like everyone else I did my best to adjust to all the transition, challenges and changes. All of a sudden, I left Queen's unexpectedly and came home to finish my final year. I am a student with various learning disabilities and this was an even more challenging learning environment for me and extremely isolating. In addition, throughout the fall semester of 2020, due to feelings of isolation and depression, I lost my motivation and drive to make it out of bed most days. Considering I wasn't getting out of bed most days, my brain had very little capacity for schoolwork, and as I fell further and further behind in my academic work, my anxiety and depression grew and began to fuel each other making it even harder to pull myself out or seek help. I just sank deeper. It wasn't until nearing the end of the fall semester (2020) that I was able to seek help from my family and then I reached out for professional help through my therapist. I attempted to make up for the work missed at school. I had reached out to all my professors and tried to explain my situation, but too much was already missed that I could not possibly catch up and pass the courses and no one was able to offer any further support. I appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic forced many others into a transition and made life very undesirable, yet due to my struggles with mental health I sunk into a pretty deep dark place that hindered me from living a normal life within the standards of what's considered normal during this pandemic and all of this negatively impacted my grades. After seeking help and support from my psychologist through weekly sessions and a lot of growth and hard work throughout the remainder of the academic year, I was able to do much better in the winter semester (2021). I began to feel better and I was able to complete three courses successfully in the winter semester. I am currently enrolled in two summer courses and one last one remaining to complete my degree at Queen's.
I have tried to provide context for what has happened to me in the fall 2020 semester and how it has impacted my health and as a result my grades, as I do care about my academic future and wish to continue on with school after my Queen's degree. I am kindly asking that you would please consider my appeal to drop (DR) the following courses from my transcript: (SOCY 284) Info./Communication Technology, (SOCY 306) Consumer Culture, and (SOCY 336) The Sociology of Work & Tech. I am optimistic and I am doing my best to successfully complete my Queen's degree. I have academic aspirations that I hope to succeed in after the completion of this degree. Despite the challenges I face through mental health issues I still aspire to continue with my post-secondary education after I complete my Queen's degree and dropping these grades would subsequently help me continue with my education as well as push past the obstacles I have faced.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my request.
Respectfully,
Matthew Gionnas