Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Michael Syrota, I have been attending Queen’s University since 2019 and am currently enrolled in the BAH Political Studies program. While I have greatly enjoyed my time at Queen’s, I have had considerable difficulty finding the right pathways and support that I need to have a successful academic career.
Throughout my life I have always struggled with mental illness, whether I knew it at the time or not. However, things took a turn for the worse after my first year at Queen’s. I fell into a place of self-doubt and lost all of my motivation to see myself succeed, and as a result, my ability to perform in school became nonexistent. It was not until mid-2021 that I was diagnosed with both depression and anxiety disorder by my family doctor. Whilst I put my best foot forward in the fall semester of 2021, I had not yet come to terms with what I was going through, and my mental health had started to deteriorate further. Eventually, I had reached a point where I stopped attending class, stopped going to work, and stopped seeing friends because I did not think I deserved any of it. After a semester of failed courses in the fall, I decided to take the winter semester off to focus on my mental health, something I am very grateful for doing. Because of the almost 9-month break I took from school, I can genuinely say that I am in a happy place again. Putting in the work to learn myself and my emotions was one of the most challenging yet important things I have ever done.
This past school year I made it my goal to focus on my mental health and to try my hardest to pass each course I was taking, regardless of how high the grade I achieved. Nevertheless, I still found it very difficult to concentrate on school. While sitting in lectures and tutorials I felt disassociated, as if I was watching my life go on from behind a window. I found my schedule easier to manage as I was taking courses I enjoyed, yet found it nearly impossible to meet all of my deadlines because I could not stay focused. After meeting multiple times with my family doctor, it was determined that I was suffering from ADHD, which when combined with my anxiety, turns into an intense brain fog. I am currently prescribed medication for both anxiety/depression and ADHD, which I take daily. I have seen a vast improvement in my overall focus, I now feel present, I used to feel distant.
I came to Queen’s with the goal of obtaining a world-class education, something I am still very determined to do. What that looks like to me is attending and enjoying lectures as well as being involved in clubs and intramural sports. Due to my struggles with mental illness, I neglected my desires to have those things. However, through all of the thick and thin I have come to learn that university is just as much about finding your own way in life, as it is attending school as both are equally important.
I have put in a lot of hard work over the past couple of years to get myself to a place where I can finally get what I desire out of my experience at Queens. Just recently, I secured a position with the QWave club to work as studio staff, as music is a passion of mine. Additionally, I am currently enrolled in a couple of health summer courses both out of interest, and desire to improve my academic standing.
Having been able to attend Queen’s has been an absolute privilege and is something that I will never take for granted. I had dreamed of attending Queen’s since I visited the school for the SEEDS program in seventh grade. Being here now, and not seeing the success I know I am capable of has been difficult to deal with. It is because I was not succeeding at Queen’s that I sought help for my mental distress; I knew something was wrong because I wanted to be at Queen’s more than anywhere in the world yet felt like I was miles away. If given the opportunity to attend Queen’s again this fall, I wholeheartedly believe that I can and will be academically successful. I allowed my desire to learn to fall victim to my negative emotions, something I have learned to not let happen again. With the academic plan I have created with the help of my parents and family doctor, I believe that I can be successful in my scholarly endeavours at Queen’s, and finish strongly. I hope that when you read this letter of petition, you see how passionate I truly am about being at Queen’s, and that nothing is more important to me than the education and community it provides me with. Thank you.