Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: September 2nd, 2023

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Kya Gordon (20355695) and I am submitting a petition to drop ANAT 100 and GNDS 125 late. I am currently a second-year Gender Studies student and a member of Queens Women's Varsity Volleyball team. During my first year at Queen’s, I struggled severely with my mental health and was unable to perform to my ability throughout the year. My mental health affected me the most in the Winter semester and into the spring months.

During the first semester, I failed to manage many areas of my life, while trying to put school as my number one priority. I struggled to maintain a proper diet and I suffered from wavering insomnia and struggled to get enough sleep. During the first semester, I also was not yet receiving support for my Depression, Anxiety, or ADHD, and that made all aspects of my life very difficult. During the volleyball season in both the first and second semesters, I struggled with self-harm, making my overall participation in team-related activities mentally and physically painful. The overall combination of struggling in multiple aspects of my life made my self-worth deteriorate, making it hard to pull myself out of that struggle.

During the second semester, my mental health had taken a turn for the worse, and I began reaching out on campus for support. March 2nd, 2023 was my first appointment at the wellness center, and after that, I began meeting with a therapist weekly or bi-weekly depending on her schedule. During the first 3 weeks of therapy, my therapist assessed me for depression and anxiety, and that led to me receiving a formal diagnosis for both in the second semester. Even while meeting with my therapist, my mental health failed to improve much as I continued to struggle with school, volleyball, and my overall self-worth. The meetings felt directed only towards getting me back on the right track with schooling, and it left me putting my mental and physical health on the back burner. ANAT 100 and GNDS 125 were especially difficult for me during this time. When struggling with my depressive symptoms, motivation to communicate with my professors was very difficult. My therapist at the wellness center helped me complete an extenuating circumstances form to explain to my professors what was going on with me, and how they could support me during this time. Three of my professors were able to use my extenuating circumstances form to provide me with extra time and support in order to help me try and finish the semester, however, I was unable to receive help from ANAT 100 and GNDS 125. I never received a response from my GNDS 125 professor after I had submitted the extenuating circumstances form. While my mental health is still slowly improving, I can acknowledge that during this time in my first year, the lack of response from my professor was enough to discourage me from trying to reach out again.

Reflecting on my experience in this class now, I can see how emotionally unavailable I was and how difficult it was for me to go to class, communicate with professors, and complete coursework. My anxiety consumed my ability to put myself in social situations and caused me to isolate myself from school completely. As you could assume it was then difficult to attempt the request for the Academic Considerations process. With trying to keep up with my student-athlete schedule and make it through the semester, getting home to gather supporting documentation was very difficult, and trying to communicate this with some of my professors and TAs was a lot to try and explain and keep track of. I truly tried my best over those couple of months to get what I needed to try and pass my courses, but GNDS 125 and ANAT 100 were the two that were most affected. As a result, I didn't do well in my other Winter courses either. I felt very defeated, and the continuous struggle made it hard for me to perform in all aspects of my life.

Overall, my experience in my first year failed to represent who I am as a person, a student, and a volleyball player, and with the support I have been receiving so far in my second semester, things have already been a lot easier to manage and overall successful. I met with Milana McNamee in late July, and this is when I learned what a petition was and that I may have grounds to submit one. After I got back to Kingston in late August, Milana and I worked to get the petition ready. Now she has been helping me access support around campus, as well as set me up with an Athletics Staff Mentor that I will meet with on a weekly basis. I have also been meeting with Becky Haist (Athletics Mental Health Counsellor) bi-weekly for therapy sessions, which have been helping me with emotional regulation and bettering my self-worth. This semester I am taking 4 courses instead of 5 in order to lighten my course load and take some academic pressure off. I have also been receiving medication for my ADHD and depression, which has begun to take effect and help me make my way into my second year. In addition, I have also begun keeping my coaches in the loop with how I am doing and receiving support from them in ways to better my success this year. During my first year, I felt uncomfortable sharing my struggles with my coaches, so I kept it all to myself, however communicating with them and being open to help me has been proving successful so far this year.

Thank you for taking the time to read this application and consider my situation. I hope the outcome can hopefully better my experience at Queens as I work towards graduating.

Sincerely,

Kya Gordon
Gender Studies student
20355695
Varsity Women's Volleyball