Petition Letter
The grades I am appealing are from my winter semester of January 2021 for the courses SOCY300 (Sociology of Cities), SOCY276 (Substantive Issues Social Deviance), and SOCY309 (Surveillance and Society). During this semester two of my roommates contracted the delta variant one after another during the later half of my courses, during this time I had been at high risk. Having had no access to the university's libraries, nor access to in class learning, both of which I found to be useful aspects of learning with my learning and mental disability, ADHD, anxiety, and depression I had struggled this semester. Given the COVID outbreak in my home, I had been taking frequent PCR tests, and had asked SOCY300 and SOCY 309 for extensions to complete my work as I was becoming the ?caregiver?? for my roommates, cooking and cleaning for the house extensively in order to adequately meet isolation standards in the environment of our student home during COVID-19 situation as advised by the nurses (ie.cleaning shower after each use was very time consuming as we only had a single bathroom as my roommates were both confined to the space of their rooms). In regards to the SOCY276 class, I had stopped the course work when the midterm assignment was asked to be written in the context of COVID-19 for the midterm paper, which as you could imagine at the time was a highly triggering subject given my most recent experience. Despite my efforts to work through this difficult scenario, I decided I would not continue the course work, and did not submit assignments for the remainder of the semester and finished with an F on my transcript in this course as I had been past the drop deadline.
These events impacted my anxiety and depression which I had previously been diagnosed with professionally. Despite having started the winter 2021 semester scoring grades in the A range prior to the outbreak in my home, I ended the semester failing both these courses due to these psychological challenges.
As I have not been given a sole doctor during my time at Queens due to the turnover of the doctors I was being connected with through the wellness services, I do not have a doctor to vouch for this semester as a whole. I do have a registration with Queens Accommodations, and last week I have requested my family doctor back home to fill forms to vouch for my diagnosis claims. Despite my efforts of my coping habits throughout the semester, including the books recommended on the behalf of a previous doctor I worked with at Queens (Mind over mood, anxiety and avoidance, mindfulness and meditation etc.) I struggled when the aspect of my personal treatment to address my issues such as mental health walks and physical activity was no longer possible in the pandemic circumstances of quarantine and isolation and shut down establishments, making the midterm season in my courses highly stressful and in some of my courses impossible for a student working through mental challenges and barriers like myself.
As I mentioned, I am waiting for my doctor to have the paperwork completed to attach to this plea, in order to vouch for my anxiety, depression and ADHD disorders which I believe have impacted my academic ability to succeed under stressful circumstances I could not have anticipated. The grades from this semester (ie.a total of 3 F??s) on my transcript I believe are not fair reflections of my status as a student. My disabilities had proven to be difficult to work under in light of the circumstances of the pandemic highly impacting me to function in the circumstances of the mentioned semester. I have never failed courses throughout my academic career at Queens, and I hope the school can recognize and consider these grades from the single semester that I was impacted by COVID-19 to be removed from my transcript, as they do not fairly represent my ability and efforts as a student and bring down my GPA tremendously.
These events impacted my anxiety and depression which I had previously been diagnosed with professionally. Despite having started the winter 2021 semester scoring grades in the A range prior to the outbreak in my home, I ended the semester failing both these courses due to these psychological challenges.
As I have not been given a sole doctor during my time at Queens due to the turnover of the doctors I was being connected with through the wellness services, I do not have a doctor to vouch for this semester as a whole. I do have a registration with Queens Accommodations, and last week I have requested my family doctor back home to fill forms to vouch for my diagnosis claims. Despite my efforts of my coping habits throughout the semester, including the books recommended on the behalf of a previous doctor I worked with at Queens (Mind over mood, anxiety and avoidance, mindfulness and meditation etc.) I struggled when the aspect of my personal treatment to address my issues such as mental health walks and physical activity was no longer possible in the pandemic circumstances of quarantine and isolation and shut down establishments, making the midterm season in my courses highly stressful and in some of my courses impossible for a student working through mental challenges and barriers like myself.
As I mentioned, I am waiting for my doctor to have the paperwork completed to attach to this plea, in order to vouch for my anxiety, depression and ADHD disorders which I believe have impacted my academic ability to succeed under stressful circumstances I could not have anticipated. The grades from this semester (ie.a total of 3 F??s) on my transcript I believe are not fair reflections of my status as a student. My disabilities had proven to be difficult to work under in light of the circumstances of the pandemic highly impacting me to function in the circumstances of the mentioned semester. I have never failed courses throughout my academic career at Queens, and I hope the school can recognize and consider these grades from the single semester that I was impacted by COVID-19 to be removed from my transcript, as they do not fairly represent my ability and efforts as a student and bring down my GPA tremendously.