Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Tattyannah Jackson (20298391) and I am submitting a petition to drop STAM 200 and HLTH 101 late (Summer 2023). I am currently a third-year Sociology student, and a member of Queen’s Women's Rugby team.

Through the Summer of 2023, I struggled severely to finish summer school because of issues with my mother's health and financial issues. My mother had been going in and out of hospitals since April of 2023. She was instructed to work from home by her doctor as of June 2023. I was then required to spend the majority of the summer at home, in Newmarket, ON, caring for my mother, younger brother, and our three dogs. I was also looking for employment and playing club rugby to prepare for my Team Canada tour. I was required to shoulder the majority of the household duties while also travelling for up to one or two weeks at a time to represent Canada's U20 program. The fact that I was occasionally in different time zones and had to be constantly available for my mother and brother made it challenging for me to finish these two courses, despite my initial optimism. Since my brother was attending summer camp, I had to constantly drop him off and pick him up, prepare breakfast and lunches, and transport him to weekend football games. Being responsible for my mom's care, my brother's needs, and the three daily walks and feedings of my dogs took up a lot of my free time. It was my responsibility to drop things earlier if I could see that I wouldn't be able to finish them, but this summer flew by so quickly that I had no idea what day of the week it was.

I was disappointed in my academic progress in the summer, especially after I had a successful Winter 2023 Term, completing 18 units and making progress in my degree. This Fall 2023 I have been meeting with Carleigh Collins (Manager of Athlete Education, Training & Leadership Development) as my Athletic Staff Mentor to keep me on track with my work and to see if I’m having any problems in my courses. I have scheduled weekly meetings with Carleigh as part of my strategy to prevent this from happening again. This semester, I've scheduled tutoring sessions to make sure I understand the material in my classes. To make sure I still receive the credits I require for my degree, I am enrolled in SOCY211 and SOCY235. I have scheduled bi-weekly appointments with Becky Haist (Athletics Mental Health Counsellor) for therapy sessions. I also continue to work with my QSAS Advisor and ask for accommodations from my profs as needed. I really want to succeed this year and raise my GPA, so I hope you can see how hard I'm working to prevent a situation like this from happening again.

Thank you for taking the time to read this application and consider my situation. I hope the outcome can support my experience at Queen’s as I work towards graduating.

Sincerely,

Tattyannah Jackson
Sociology Student
20298391
Varsity Women’s Rugby Student-Athlete