Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 1032
Submitted: May 3, 2015 at 7:57:47 PM
First Name: Kyle
Last Name: Nieuwenhuizen
Student Number: 10107326
Email: 13kan1@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: ENGL
Level of Study: 2
Appeal Category Detail: Request to remove a grade from transcript due to anxiety/depression
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: I am writing this appeal letter to request that two grades be removed from my transcript. Over the course of the 2015 Winter Term,I have been experiencing severe anxiety and minor cases of depression. This anxiety began in late December, and continued until the end of Winter Term exams. It has directly affected my grades, in that for two course I was unable to complete an assignment on time,and thus received a failing grade. At its peak, this anxiety had also caused feelings of rather intense depression, and there were weeks where I would not be able to leave my room due to feeling so hopeless in being behind in my courses, and because of this I missed a lot of classes. It wasn't until early March that I finally realized that I needed to get help, after a close friend of mine let something similar get to intense levels, and I then proceeded to talk to a Queen's Mental Health Counselor, Rachel Sturgeon, who was helpful in providing me with ways to work out my anxiety. Unfortunately, the solutions were too long term to provide an immediate solution, and, while I was able to recover in most classes, I fell short in the final two, ENGL-215, and ENGL-271, being unable to complete the final essays. The instructor for ENGL-215 did grant me an extension, however the anxiety returned in full force with the added stress of exams, and I was unable to complete it during the little free time I had away from studying.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: Over the past couple of months I have met with a health counselor and an academic adviser. Both have been able to help me figure out a way to deal with the anxiety I have been experiencing, and there has actually been notable progress in the past month. The Health Counselor introduced me to a self-help book, provided by Queens, which will help me find ways to progressively better my anxiety. She has also shown me to some helpful videos of breathing and muscle relaxation exercises that allow me to bring the anxiety down for a small period of time. I will continue to work on these things over the summer with hopes that it will not be an issue next fall, and then will resume counseling in the fall so as not to fall behind.
The Academic Adviser helped me discover that perhaps English is not the correct major for me to be in, and I have enrolled myself in a Summer course, History, in hopes that it will be a better fit to my interests. I will put all of my academic focus in this course over the summer, and determine whether History would make a more fitting major, and then have English as my major.
The Academic Adviser helped me discover that perhaps English is not the correct major for me to be in, and I have enrolled myself in a Summer course, History, in hopes that it will be a better fit to my interests. I will put all of my academic focus in this course over the summer, and determine whether History would make a more fitting major, and then have English as my major.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NO DOC, can be acquired