Petition Letter
This year I was put on academic probation and needed to get my GPA up in order to not be on probation and asked to take a year off of school but unfortunately during my second semester and this summer, I went through quite a traumatic experience within my family. I had known for a little while that my brother sometimes struggled with issues involving his alcohol consumption. During my second semester, I realized how bad it had gotten and had to notify my parents. I felt extremely guilty and thought it was my fault that I had let my brother get to the place he had because I didn't tell anyone sooner. I thought I could handle it on my own but I was wrong and because of that, he got to a place where I did not even recognize him. After notifying my parents, my home life became an instant mess for around 6 or 7 months. Trying to get my brother the help he needed even though he refused was a different battle every day. This was not only so mentally painful for me to witness as his younger sister but also my parents, whom I had never seen so helpless and hurt. This unfortunately made it extremely difficult to focus on school because my mind was very distracted. Also, the fact that there was always a yelling match taking place in my house most days. I found myself trying to take care of my drunk brother most nights to take some of the weight and stress off of my parents. I am a person who already struggles with anxiety and sought medical attention for it a couple of years ago. Whilst all of this was going on I tried my best to make time to see my therapist and work out my emotions to the best of my ability. I had submitted an academic appeal with the supporting documentation from my doctor during the second semester which had been approved to get a lot of my due dates pushed back. Even though most of my professors were extremely accommodating, mentally it was just too much for me to handle at the time. I am currently in a much better place mentally and I think if I had the opportunity to continue with school in the right mindset it would make all the difference.