Petition Letter
July 19, 2021
Dear Associate Dean (Academic),
I am appealing to add the course WRIT 120 past the academic deadline.
My name is Alexa Franko and I have just finished my 4th year at Queens University in Concurrent Education with a Specialization in Bio Math. I am supposed to enter my 5th year (teachers college) next year, however, I am 3.0 units short in my undergrad degree.
Over the past year I have faced numerous extenuating circumstances beyond my control that have severely affected my academic performance and my mental health. In 2019, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and began undergoing chemotherapy treatments. These extended into 2020, the start of the pandemic, leaving my dad highly immunocompromised and my family extremely wary and alert. It was around this time that 9 of my family members in Montreal were diagnosed with COVID, two of which were hospitalized, and I was starting online school from Canada with an Australian University (my exchange was cancelled). I began to undergo anxiety that I had never experienced before. Trying to navigate online school for the first time in a household that was far from stable, was extremely difficult for me. When I entered 4th year for online school, I moved back to Kingston hoping that it would be a better environment, but I only found my condition getting worse. Throughout first semester, I transformed into a version of myself that I could no longer recognize. I could hardly get out of bed, and yet I was never able to fall asleep. I completely withdrew from my friends, and I stopped cooking for myself which is something that I have always taken so much pride in. I completely stopped any aspect of self care; I was exhausted, eating awful food, and isolating myself with no routine to follow and help me get back on track. I began to fall behind in my courses, which only heightened my anxiety day by day. I am a good student and an extremely hard worker. I hold myself to incredibly high standards, and when I became unable to meet these standards I felt so embarrassed and ashamed. The only thing that would help me was avoidance of it all together - I simply stopped being able to submit work. I went from being a student that thrived under pressure to a student that absolutely crumbled. As weird as it may seem, I have always enjoyed the rush and excitement of writing an exam. In fall semester, I had my first anxiety attack on a Math exam (my favourite subject), and I completely blanked for the first time in my life. After this event, my anxiety attacks began appearing about once a week, sometimes more during stressful times. I refused to reach out to anyone, including my friends, out of fear that they would pity me and an overwhelming feeling that I would burden others.
A few of my professors noticed that I had not been submitting work to them and they became concerned about me, so they reached out to Student Wellness Services. I received a call from Student Wellness and they gave me accommodations for the rest of the semester. I wanted to reach out again, as I knew I needed help, but I was always scared to call with my housemates in such a close proximity to my room. None of them knew how bad I was struggling.
My GLPH 271 professor was extremely helpful to me during fall semester. She told me that she would mark me as ??incomplete? in the course so that I could finish some of my work for her in the winter semester. However, when I went on SOLUS in January I saw an ??F? under this course rather than an ??INC. I immediately thought that she had changed her mind, and I was far too embarrassed and ashamed to email her and ask.
At the end of winter semester I worked up the courage to call an academic advisor. She advised me that there was still hope for me and that my best bet was to email my professor and ask her if she would accept the few assignments I had needed to submit and change my grade. I felt hopeful, however, when I moved back home I was immediately hit with more extenuating circumstances. My Aunt from Montreal had moved into our house for the summer, very sick, for my mom to take care of her. She is facing periodic paralysis, meaning that she has episodes of paralysis about once a day. My family was undergoing a lot of stress and once again this seemed to rub off on me. I felt completely unable to email my professor, complete the assignments, or start a summer course. To make things worse, at the beginning of July, my mom was hospitalized with a severe allergic reaction to a wasp sting that lasted her 5 days, leaving my dad and myself to care for both my mom and my Aunt. In all this craziness, I missed the deadline to add a summer course for the July-August term. I emailed asc.online@queensu.ca on Wednesday, July 14 about adding me into one, only 3 school days after that final add date for this term. They got back to me and denied me, and then only told me about the appeal process today, on Monday July 19, which is why I am appealing this so late.
While I know this is a very late appeal, and a circumstance that you would likely not accept (it is more than a week past the final add date), I am practically begging you to give me a chance. This is my absolute last opportunity to finish my undergraduate degree in time to go to teachers college this coming year for 5th year. If I am not enrolled in a course this term I will need to take an entire 6th year, just for one unit. I cannot be more excited to leave this past year behind, and I worry about what a full year of being reminded about what my failures have done would do to me. Having to complete a 5th year for 1 course will only remind me everyday of all my mistakes, and it will hold me back from attending teachers college with my friends and graduating with my cohort. It will leave me completely isolated in Kingston for a year and so incredibly ashamed of myself. Teaching is something I am so passionate about and find incredible joy in. I would like to move on to focusing on something that I love and makes me happy.
You should allow me to enter WRIT 120 this summer because I know that I will succeed. I have started a 9am-4pm job this summer that is giving me a schedule and routine that has proved to be very helpful to me. I have time to complete a summer course and do well in it. Most of all, I have been opening up and speaking to my sister which is providing a lot of relief. She told me that should I be unable to complete the course from my house, I can live with her for the summer to finish the course in a good environment for me. I have been in discussions with a few people in the course, and I know that I have not missed a lot of work yet. I will easily be able to catch up on missed work and receive a good mark in the course. I received an A+ in my summer course last year, and I was working under similar conditions.
When I called my academic advisor, she told me that my transcript tells a story. I went from being a (almost) straight A student, to a student that failed a course and received numerous D??s and B's this past year. I know that I do not have a lot of supporting documentation, but I hope that you can look at my transcript and see that something clearly went wrong this year and that I was struggling.
So I ask of you, Associate Dean (Academic), to please grant me late access to the summer course WRIT 120. I need to be enrolled in this course as it is my absolute last shot of graduating this summer, entering 5th year, and closing the door on a year that was quite a tough one for me. I will work hard to catch up and I will absolutely succeed in this course. I believe in myself and I hope that you do too. Please help me finish off my degree.
Thank you in advance,
Alexa Franko
20069498
Dear Associate Dean (Academic),
I am appealing to add the course WRIT 120 past the academic deadline.
My name is Alexa Franko and I have just finished my 4th year at Queens University in Concurrent Education with a Specialization in Bio Math. I am supposed to enter my 5th year (teachers college) next year, however, I am 3.0 units short in my undergrad degree.
Over the past year I have faced numerous extenuating circumstances beyond my control that have severely affected my academic performance and my mental health. In 2019, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and began undergoing chemotherapy treatments. These extended into 2020, the start of the pandemic, leaving my dad highly immunocompromised and my family extremely wary and alert. It was around this time that 9 of my family members in Montreal were diagnosed with COVID, two of which were hospitalized, and I was starting online school from Canada with an Australian University (my exchange was cancelled). I began to undergo anxiety that I had never experienced before. Trying to navigate online school for the first time in a household that was far from stable, was extremely difficult for me. When I entered 4th year for online school, I moved back to Kingston hoping that it would be a better environment, but I only found my condition getting worse. Throughout first semester, I transformed into a version of myself that I could no longer recognize. I could hardly get out of bed, and yet I was never able to fall asleep. I completely withdrew from my friends, and I stopped cooking for myself which is something that I have always taken so much pride in. I completely stopped any aspect of self care; I was exhausted, eating awful food, and isolating myself with no routine to follow and help me get back on track. I began to fall behind in my courses, which only heightened my anxiety day by day. I am a good student and an extremely hard worker. I hold myself to incredibly high standards, and when I became unable to meet these standards I felt so embarrassed and ashamed. The only thing that would help me was avoidance of it all together - I simply stopped being able to submit work. I went from being a student that thrived under pressure to a student that absolutely crumbled. As weird as it may seem, I have always enjoyed the rush and excitement of writing an exam. In fall semester, I had my first anxiety attack on a Math exam (my favourite subject), and I completely blanked for the first time in my life. After this event, my anxiety attacks began appearing about once a week, sometimes more during stressful times. I refused to reach out to anyone, including my friends, out of fear that they would pity me and an overwhelming feeling that I would burden others.
A few of my professors noticed that I had not been submitting work to them and they became concerned about me, so they reached out to Student Wellness Services. I received a call from Student Wellness and they gave me accommodations for the rest of the semester. I wanted to reach out again, as I knew I needed help, but I was always scared to call with my housemates in such a close proximity to my room. None of them knew how bad I was struggling.
My GLPH 271 professor was extremely helpful to me during fall semester. She told me that she would mark me as ??incomplete? in the course so that I could finish some of my work for her in the winter semester. However, when I went on SOLUS in January I saw an ??F? under this course rather than an ??INC. I immediately thought that she had changed her mind, and I was far too embarrassed and ashamed to email her and ask.
At the end of winter semester I worked up the courage to call an academic advisor. She advised me that there was still hope for me and that my best bet was to email my professor and ask her if she would accept the few assignments I had needed to submit and change my grade. I felt hopeful, however, when I moved back home I was immediately hit with more extenuating circumstances. My Aunt from Montreal had moved into our house for the summer, very sick, for my mom to take care of her. She is facing periodic paralysis, meaning that she has episodes of paralysis about once a day. My family was undergoing a lot of stress and once again this seemed to rub off on me. I felt completely unable to email my professor, complete the assignments, or start a summer course. To make things worse, at the beginning of July, my mom was hospitalized with a severe allergic reaction to a wasp sting that lasted her 5 days, leaving my dad and myself to care for both my mom and my Aunt. In all this craziness, I missed the deadline to add a summer course for the July-August term. I emailed asc.online@queensu.ca on Wednesday, July 14 about adding me into one, only 3 school days after that final add date for this term. They got back to me and denied me, and then only told me about the appeal process today, on Monday July 19, which is why I am appealing this so late.
While I know this is a very late appeal, and a circumstance that you would likely not accept (it is more than a week past the final add date), I am practically begging you to give me a chance. This is my absolute last opportunity to finish my undergraduate degree in time to go to teachers college this coming year for 5th year. If I am not enrolled in a course this term I will need to take an entire 6th year, just for one unit. I cannot be more excited to leave this past year behind, and I worry about what a full year of being reminded about what my failures have done would do to me. Having to complete a 5th year for 1 course will only remind me everyday of all my mistakes, and it will hold me back from attending teachers college with my friends and graduating with my cohort. It will leave me completely isolated in Kingston for a year and so incredibly ashamed of myself. Teaching is something I am so passionate about and find incredible joy in. I would like to move on to focusing on something that I love and makes me happy.
You should allow me to enter WRIT 120 this summer because I know that I will succeed. I have started a 9am-4pm job this summer that is giving me a schedule and routine that has proved to be very helpful to me. I have time to complete a summer course and do well in it. Most of all, I have been opening up and speaking to my sister which is providing a lot of relief. She told me that should I be unable to complete the course from my house, I can live with her for the summer to finish the course in a good environment for me. I have been in discussions with a few people in the course, and I know that I have not missed a lot of work yet. I will easily be able to catch up on missed work and receive a good mark in the course. I received an A+ in my summer course last year, and I was working under similar conditions.
When I called my academic advisor, she told me that my transcript tells a story. I went from being a (almost) straight A student, to a student that failed a course and received numerous D??s and B's this past year. I know that I do not have a lot of supporting documentation, but I hope that you can look at my transcript and see that something clearly went wrong this year and that I was struggling.
So I ask of you, Associate Dean (Academic), to please grant me late access to the summer course WRIT 120. I need to be enrolled in this course as it is my absolute last shot of graduating this summer, entering 5th year, and closing the door on a year that was quite a tough one for me. I will work hard to catch up and I will absolutely succeed in this course. I believe in myself and I hope that you do too. Please help me finish off my degree.
Thank you in advance,
Alexa Franko
20069498