Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Stephenson:
The purpose of this letter is to petition to drop a course after the academic deadline/and or (Request Credit (CR) Standing in a Course.
I should not have written the ASTR101 exam on April 17, 2024, as scheduled. I completed all the work in the course and studied for the final exam; however, while I was studying for the final exam, there was a crisis in my family that overtook my life and made it difficult for me to concentrate on studying the material for the final exam. The reason I wrote the final exam was because Dr. Hanes was accommodating me and I didn’t feel right telling him I was not mentally capable of writing the exam on the that day.
This is an incredibly difficult letter to write as it is about my family. I am married and have two adult children. For many years my son has struggled with anxiety and depression. Most of the time, he is able to handle life, but there are times when this is not possible. During the time that I was preparing for the final exam for ASTR101 was one of those times. It is impossible to explain the stress I was under during this time. When my son is struggling, he believes that he should not be alive. I will not go into details regarding this, but will say that it is extremely difficult to have your son beg you to let him die.
On July 4, 2024, he finally went to see his doctor to see what kind of help he could obtain. Because he is an adult, there is nothing that my husband and I could do but be there for him when he was having a tough time. I live in fear of something happening to him and the stress has led to me developing an illness of my own.
I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish at Queen’s. In the Winter semester, I took RELS131, DEVS230, HIST205, and ASTR101. I was able to do well in RELS131 and DEVS230 as these courses had take-home exams. In the case of HIST205, the exam was timed and I did not do great on the exam, but there was no requirement that I had to pass the exam to pass the course. Unfortunately, I was not able to pass the ASTR101 exam due to the circumstances listed above. As a result, I did not pass the course and am requesting to drop the course after the academic deadline.
I took 4 courses over the summer. EMPR110 is complete due to being a May/June course. The other 3 courses are going well. At the end of the summer semester, I have 5 courses left to take. My plan is to take all 5 courses during the fall semester. The courses I have selected are: DEVS240, HIST211, GNDS125, GNDS215, and WRIT250. I know that I will be able to do well in these courses and complete my degree.
Yours truly,
Kelli Rendell