Petition Letter
Dear Associate Director of Life Sciences,
I am appealing to drop BCHM370 and KNPE336 for the Fall 2022 term. This past year I experienced extenuating circumstances that were beyond my control. It directly affected my academic performance and ability to partake in class work and internship hours.
In January of 2022 I started to experience difficulties with my mental health that I have never felt before. It was a very overwhelming and confusing feeling as I did not know how to deal with it. I first reached out to a therapist in attempts to acknowledge and reconcile with what was happening. After three months and still no progress, I contacted my family physician and she suggested a course of medications in addition to therapy. Though I reached out for help and started to get some of the support I needed, the condition of my mental health continued to decline rapidly in May 2022. Finding the correct course of medications as well as the dose, is a very long process. It requires slowly increasing the dose over the course of several weeks and then slowly weening off of them, if it is not the correct treatment. It took an immense toll on my body and brain chemistry, and is still an ongoing process today. In July 2022 my physician referred me to a registered psychotherapist who I have been working with on a weekly basis since.
While I was managing this, keeping up with my academic responsibilities became increasingly difficult. Specifically, the internship portion of KNPE336 had taken a huge toll on myself mentally. Receiving the DIPA certificate is incredibly important to me and my future career goals. This determination kept me doing the coursework however the internship caused severe anxiety that the thought of it became exhausting. This was my only course that had an internship requirement and because of my circumstances I was not able to meet the required hours necessary to complete this course. I had thought that I would be able to make up those missed hours at the end of the year, as I had hoped to have found a course of treatment that works for me. However, this was not the case and am I still working with my physician to find the right treatment.
Though I am getting closer to finding the correct course of action to improve my current mental state, the course load that I had previously found manageable, feels increasingly overwhelming. I am appealing to drop BCHM370 and KNPE336 and not my other courses because this course is of great importance to me and would be more beneficial to take it when I can allocate my full attention towards it. Up until week 8 I was caught up on this course but not my other four. At this time I did not even consider dropping a class so I devoted most of my time towards catching up on my other courses. This ultimately led to falling further behind in BCHM370. I feel as though I could have succeeded in this course if I took it last year when my mental state was a lot better. The content taught is something that I find extremely useful for my future and I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to retake this course and complete it to the fullest potential that I can. I plan to take courses over the summer and since BCHM370 is available online, I plan to take it then.
As I am going on exchange next term, I am not able to retake the courses from this term then. I will be taking classes during the Summer 2023 semester in order to meet the requirements for graduation. I am continuing to work with both my therapist and physician to create the best course of action for myself, and I am getting closer to feeling like myself again more and more each day.
I greatly appreciate your time and understanding towards my situation. I know that I will get better and will be about to retake these courses in the coming terms.
Sincerely,
Jordana Su (20221524)
I am appealing to drop BCHM370 and KNPE336 for the Fall 2022 term. This past year I experienced extenuating circumstances that were beyond my control. It directly affected my academic performance and ability to partake in class work and internship hours.
In January of 2022 I started to experience difficulties with my mental health that I have never felt before. It was a very overwhelming and confusing feeling as I did not know how to deal with it. I first reached out to a therapist in attempts to acknowledge and reconcile with what was happening. After three months and still no progress, I contacted my family physician and she suggested a course of medications in addition to therapy. Though I reached out for help and started to get some of the support I needed, the condition of my mental health continued to decline rapidly in May 2022. Finding the correct course of medications as well as the dose, is a very long process. It requires slowly increasing the dose over the course of several weeks and then slowly weening off of them, if it is not the correct treatment. It took an immense toll on my body and brain chemistry, and is still an ongoing process today. In July 2022 my physician referred me to a registered psychotherapist who I have been working with on a weekly basis since.
While I was managing this, keeping up with my academic responsibilities became increasingly difficult. Specifically, the internship portion of KNPE336 had taken a huge toll on myself mentally. Receiving the DIPA certificate is incredibly important to me and my future career goals. This determination kept me doing the coursework however the internship caused severe anxiety that the thought of it became exhausting. This was my only course that had an internship requirement and because of my circumstances I was not able to meet the required hours necessary to complete this course. I had thought that I would be able to make up those missed hours at the end of the year, as I had hoped to have found a course of treatment that works for me. However, this was not the case and am I still working with my physician to find the right treatment.
Though I am getting closer to finding the correct course of action to improve my current mental state, the course load that I had previously found manageable, feels increasingly overwhelming. I am appealing to drop BCHM370 and KNPE336 and not my other courses because this course is of great importance to me and would be more beneficial to take it when I can allocate my full attention towards it. Up until week 8 I was caught up on this course but not my other four. At this time I did not even consider dropping a class so I devoted most of my time towards catching up on my other courses. This ultimately led to falling further behind in BCHM370. I feel as though I could have succeeded in this course if I took it last year when my mental state was a lot better. The content taught is something that I find extremely useful for my future and I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to retake this course and complete it to the fullest potential that I can. I plan to take courses over the summer and since BCHM370 is available online, I plan to take it then.
As I am going on exchange next term, I am not able to retake the courses from this term then. I will be taking classes during the Summer 2023 semester in order to meet the requirements for graduation. I am continuing to work with both my therapist and physician to create the best course of action for myself, and I am getting closer to feeling like myself again more and more each day.
I greatly appreciate your time and understanding towards my situation. I know that I will get better and will be about to retake these courses in the coming terms.
Sincerely,
Jordana Su (20221524)