Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Dominique Clarke, and I recently completed my second year of my Bachelor of Science, specializing in Kinesiology. During the second semester of my first year, I suffered mentally due to a surgery that I had received the summer before I began university. Early in the summer, I had undergone an MPFL reconstruction and spent the following months receiving intensive physiotherapy so that I could be physically stable enough to begin university in September. Throughout my first semester, I balanced a full course load while continuing to attend frequent physiotherapy appointments and regaining my strength and mobility. Managing this schedule while adjusting to my new life in Kingston caused me to develop anxiety and depression late during the first semester. While I was able to complete my exams, after I returned home during Christmas break my anxiety worsened and I became very tired and lethargic. I feared that I would not be able to manage a full course load again in my second semester. As such, after consulting with my parents and doctors, I decided to drop one of my electives and take four classes. This allowed me the time to prioritize my mental health and attend psychologist appointments as well as focus on my physical recovery from surgery.

To place myself back on track to graduate in four years, I had originally planned on taking PHYS 118 over the summer. However, after almost two weeks in the course, I came to realize that a 24-week compressed course load would not be manageable due to professional and athletic commitments. I am part of the varsity women??s soccer team at Queen??s University which requires that we maintain a certain training schedule during the summer to be ready for the season come August. In addition to my weekly training schedule, I am also working at a restaurant so that I can afford my monthly living expenses. Thus, I believe that I would be better fitted for a 12-week course this summer.

As a part of my degree plan, I aim to partake in the DIPA certificate. This requires that I take an additional 9.0 credits, which I would likely take during the summer after my third and fourth years. Thus, the only summer during which I could recover the three credits that I did not take during my first year is this summer. I am confident that I would be able to cover the content from the two weeks that I have missed to catch myself up and excel in the class.

I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to complete WRIT 125 this summer so that I may stay on track to graduate with my degree in four years.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Dominique Clarke