Petition Letter
Saturday, January 15th , 2022
Dear Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing to waive the one term deadline for the following courses: GPHY 370, FILM 340 from winter 2021 and RELS 393 from fall 2020 (to late drop), GPHY 327 (to credit stand) and GPHY 368 and MUSC 171 (to late grade).
In the fall of 2020 my grandmother began to display signs of Schizophrenia and Dementia. She would often have episodes of delusion and aggression, often towards other family members, specifically my mother. I would need to step in to dissolve the situation and help her calm down and such. It wasn??t until the middle of the winter semester last year that she was able to get an official diagnosis, due to the backlog created by Covid, and eventually begin medication to alleviate her condition. However the medications didn??t prove to be as effective as we had hoped and she would still have episodes at varying degrees of severity. Even when they were adjusted in a follow up appointment closer to the end of the April, it took a prolonged period for the medications to take effect and even then, didn??t prove to be effective as her condition continued to deteriorate. I have been staying at home helping my family since Covid first hit in March and due to time constraints and language barriers I am the primary point of contact for my grandmother. I take her to all of her appointments, give her medications and deescalate situations when they arise at home. This has had a significant impact on me and my mental health continued to deteriorate during this time period. As the one term deadline passed for these courses, both the fall term and winter term deadline, I didn??t have the mental capacity or capability to check out the appeals process in between caring for my grandmother and the constant state of stress that I was under at home.
I am trying my best to graduate this year and therefore in order to finish my courses I am subletting a room in Kingston for the winter term with the permission and understanding from my family that I will go back home once it??s over. I arrived last Saturday and with some newfound mental space I was able to look into the appeals process. For one of the courses I am late grading, MUSC 171, the professor is letting me complete and submit the work by the end of January and I already have that underway. I need the two courses that I am late grading in order to fulfill my course count so that I may graduate. If I am not able to get these credits, I will need to take additional courses from home, in the same situation. I am trying my best to finish this semester so that I may graduate and return home and focus on caring for my grandmother without the added stress of school.
With these extenuating circumstances in mind, I kindly ask that you waive the one term deadline for the courses mentioned above.
Kindly,
Harini Thirimadura Wijeratne
Harini (Shasha) Thirimadura Wijeratne
20020993
Dear Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing to waive the one term deadline for the following courses: GPHY 370, FILM 340 from winter 2021 and RELS 393 from fall 2020 (to late drop), GPHY 327 (to credit stand) and GPHY 368 and MUSC 171 (to late grade).
In the fall of 2020 my grandmother began to display signs of Schizophrenia and Dementia. She would often have episodes of delusion and aggression, often towards other family members, specifically my mother. I would need to step in to dissolve the situation and help her calm down and such. It wasn??t until the middle of the winter semester last year that she was able to get an official diagnosis, due to the backlog created by Covid, and eventually begin medication to alleviate her condition. However the medications didn??t prove to be as effective as we had hoped and she would still have episodes at varying degrees of severity. Even when they were adjusted in a follow up appointment closer to the end of the April, it took a prolonged period for the medications to take effect and even then, didn??t prove to be effective as her condition continued to deteriorate. I have been staying at home helping my family since Covid first hit in March and due to time constraints and language barriers I am the primary point of contact for my grandmother. I take her to all of her appointments, give her medications and deescalate situations when they arise at home. This has had a significant impact on me and my mental health continued to deteriorate during this time period. As the one term deadline passed for these courses, both the fall term and winter term deadline, I didn??t have the mental capacity or capability to check out the appeals process in between caring for my grandmother and the constant state of stress that I was under at home.
I am trying my best to graduate this year and therefore in order to finish my courses I am subletting a room in Kingston for the winter term with the permission and understanding from my family that I will go back home once it??s over. I arrived last Saturday and with some newfound mental space I was able to look into the appeals process. For one of the courses I am late grading, MUSC 171, the professor is letting me complete and submit the work by the end of January and I already have that underway. I need the two courses that I am late grading in order to fulfill my course count so that I may graduate. If I am not able to get these credits, I will need to take additional courses from home, in the same situation. I am trying my best to finish this semester so that I may graduate and return home and focus on caring for my grandmother without the added stress of school.
With these extenuating circumstances in mind, I kindly ask that you waive the one term deadline for the courses mentioned above.
Kindly,
Harini Thirimadura Wijeratne
Harini (Shasha) Thirimadura Wijeratne
20020993