Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 10577
Submitted: May 28, 2023 at 11:11:22 AM
First Name: Jennifer
Last Name: Raita-Smith
Pronoun: She/Her
Preferred Name: Jennifer
Student Number: 20364529
Email: 22jear@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BA
Plan: PSYC
Level of Study: 1
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Hello Associate Deen (Academic),
I am petitioning the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queens for a minimum of one year.
I would like to start off by apologizing. I am very sorry for my lack of focus during the past 2 terms. This past year has been extremely tough for me and that impacted my school life greatly. I will provide a timeline for everything below and if there is anything else I can provide please let me know.
July 17 - December 1: got taken advantage of at my workplace. got overscheduled, not listened to, and manipulated by my managers.
August - April: struggled a lot with my weight and eating. Developed an eating disorder and would go through phases of barely eating to binging, this impacted me severely, as I was always extremely upset with the way I looked and felt, and would take it out on the ones around me.
August - September: had a lot of family issues and fights with my mom due to the stress I was under at work and with myself, my lack of communication and attitude at the time almost got me kicked out.
August - beginning of October: My boyfriend got sick with an unknown issue that enlarged his spleen and made him very sick, which had me in the hospital with him for hours a day.
October - present: My boyfriend got arrested and charged due to false allegations
October 26: My best friend had a suicide attempt when driving home from hanging out with me.
November 14: found out my younger sister had been self-harming and had to guide her to seek help and work with the rest of my family to support her.
December 24 - present: My grandma had a heart attack on Christmas eve and had multiple heart issues for the following months where we were in and out of the hospital during visiting hours.
January 26: my younger half-siblings both transitioned and struggled a lot with their mental health, which required my sister and me to step in and help them whenever/however we could
February 19 - March 10: I got very sick with hives and couldn't do anything (resulted in believing it was an allergic reaction, but still unsure and was very bad for the first month while we figured out what was happening)
May 2022 - March 2023: I got stalked, harassed, and sent cryptic death threats online and at my workplace for months
Ongoing: My mother had a court case open with my father. my stepmother still does which involves my younger siblings, and this would sometimes include me having to speak to children's lawyers and relive that past.
On top of these few things, my father is very abusive physically and emotionally and my siblings and I just got out of it when covid started, so since then, we have been dealing with a lot of realizations to how we were treated (since my mom and him split up when I was 3. No one ever saw the way I was treated there), as well as unlocking memories and learning to find ourselves again which has a big impact on one mentally. Also, with this being the first year where I completely stopped communication with him it has been hard as I know how wrong he treated us and there is no excuse for his narcissism and manipulation however, it's still the small things, like my first Christmas where I don't celebrate it twice, or getting used to not packing a bag every other weekend, that takes a toll on me.
Obviously not each one of these things alone is enough to discourage me from prioritizing school, just the fact there was never a break and something was always going on, I never had the time to recover from the last event before a new one started. I understand I shouldn't have put my school as a last priority, however, I didn't know what to do or where/how to get help for my lack of motivation and focus. I fell into a depressive state and just could not get out of it, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't prioritize anything and that impacted my studies greatly.
However, During last year I also learned a lot about myself and when I need to ask for help managing my stress. With this new knowledge in mind, I have no doubt that I will be able to use that skill if my next semester becomes overbearing, to ensure I stay above a 1.6 GPA.
I am petitioning the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queens for a minimum of one year.
I would like to start off by apologizing. I am very sorry for my lack of focus during the past 2 terms. This past year has been extremely tough for me and that impacted my school life greatly. I will provide a timeline for everything below and if there is anything else I can provide please let me know.
July 17 - December 1: got taken advantage of at my workplace. got overscheduled, not listened to, and manipulated by my managers.
August - April: struggled a lot with my weight and eating. Developed an eating disorder and would go through phases of barely eating to binging, this impacted me severely, as I was always extremely upset with the way I looked and felt, and would take it out on the ones around me.
August - September: had a lot of family issues and fights with my mom due to the stress I was under at work and with myself, my lack of communication and attitude at the time almost got me kicked out.
August - beginning of October: My boyfriend got sick with an unknown issue that enlarged his spleen and made him very sick, which had me in the hospital with him for hours a day.
October - present: My boyfriend got arrested and charged due to false allegations
October 26: My best friend had a suicide attempt when driving home from hanging out with me.
November 14: found out my younger sister had been self-harming and had to guide her to seek help and work with the rest of my family to support her.
December 24 - present: My grandma had a heart attack on Christmas eve and had multiple heart issues for the following months where we were in and out of the hospital during visiting hours.
January 26: my younger half-siblings both transitioned and struggled a lot with their mental health, which required my sister and me to step in and help them whenever/however we could
February 19 - March 10: I got very sick with hives and couldn't do anything (resulted in believing it was an allergic reaction, but still unsure and was very bad for the first month while we figured out what was happening)
May 2022 - March 2023: I got stalked, harassed, and sent cryptic death threats online and at my workplace for months
Ongoing: My mother had a court case open with my father. my stepmother still does which involves my younger siblings, and this would sometimes include me having to speak to children's lawyers and relive that past.
On top of these few things, my father is very abusive physically and emotionally and my siblings and I just got out of it when covid started, so since then, we have been dealing with a lot of realizations to how we were treated (since my mom and him split up when I was 3. No one ever saw the way I was treated there), as well as unlocking memories and learning to find ourselves again which has a big impact on one mentally. Also, with this being the first year where I completely stopped communication with him it has been hard as I know how wrong he treated us and there is no excuse for his narcissism and manipulation however, it's still the small things, like my first Christmas where I don't celebrate it twice, or getting used to not packing a bag every other weekend, that takes a toll on me.
Obviously not each one of these things alone is enough to discourage me from prioritizing school, just the fact there was never a break and something was always going on, I never had the time to recover from the last event before a new one started. I understand I shouldn't have put my school as a last priority, however, I didn't know what to do or where/how to get help for my lack of motivation and focus. I fell into a depressive state and just could not get out of it, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't prioritize anything and that impacted my studies greatly.
However, During last year I also learned a lot about myself and when I need to ask for help managing my stress. With this new knowledge in mind, I have no doubt that I will be able to use that skill if my next semester becomes overbearing, to ensure I stay above a 1.6 GPA.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: 2022-2023 was a very hard year for me. However, I have the support system and motivation to turn this around. I am very dedicated to doing well in my studies and would be willing to enroll in anything and everything possible to ensure I don't fall behind.
If given the opportunity to study in the upcoming fall/winter term I promise you would not be disappointed.
If there is any way to get the requirement to withdraw waived, I would deeply appreciate it.
I have just started a summer course and have been committed to doing well in this course, just like I would in my future courses. Throughout this course, I am finding ways of studying that work best for me, as well as learning how to stay motivated and interested in the material, so when I study next term I will already have all the tools I need to be successful. I have also worked out a system with my job where I only work 2 times a week, I have blocked all contact with my stalker, stopped communicating with my father, I've just recently invested in a gym membership and personal trainer (as being physically active has always been something that's kept me motivated and been able to boost my mood daily), I've redone one of our spare rooms just for me to do my school work in - like an office (as some studies have shown that having a dedicated space for school/work is more beneficial), started looking at therapy and group sessions, learned to help those around me (family and friends) without letting it bring me down as well, etc.
Last year felt like a really bad movie. Things just kept happening, one after another, until I felt like it was too late. None of these are meant to be excuses as I take full accountability for my actions and the way I handled stress last year.
The only thing I do ask is to acknowledge that I have made changes and I am committed to doing better and prioritizing my studies. I know I will do better this upcoming term and if there is anything further I need to do, I would be happy to do so.
If this cannot be waived I understand and I thank you for taking the time to read this
All the best,
Jennifer Raita-Smith
If given the opportunity to study in the upcoming fall/winter term I promise you would not be disappointed.
If there is any way to get the requirement to withdraw waived, I would deeply appreciate it.
I have just started a summer course and have been committed to doing well in this course, just like I would in my future courses. Throughout this course, I am finding ways of studying that work best for me, as well as learning how to stay motivated and interested in the material, so when I study next term I will already have all the tools I need to be successful. I have also worked out a system with my job where I only work 2 times a week, I have blocked all contact with my stalker, stopped communicating with my father, I've just recently invested in a gym membership and personal trainer (as being physically active has always been something that's kept me motivated and been able to boost my mood daily), I've redone one of our spare rooms just for me to do my school work in - like an office (as some studies have shown that having a dedicated space for school/work is more beneficial), started looking at therapy and group sessions, learned to help those around me (family and friends) without letting it bring me down as well, etc.
Last year felt like a really bad movie. Things just kept happening, one after another, until I felt like it was too late. None of these are meant to be excuses as I take full accountability for my actions and the way I handled stress last year.
The only thing I do ask is to acknowledge that I have made changes and I am committed to doing better and prioritizing my studies. I know I will do better this upcoming term and if there is anything further I need to do, I would be happy to do so.
If this cannot be waived I understand and I thank you for taking the time to read this
All the best,
Jennifer Raita-Smith
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NO DOC
Decision Letters
Amendment to Appeal 10577
Relevant Petition: 10577
Student Number: 20364529
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NO DOC
Document: Jennifer - letter.pdf