Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean Academic,

I am writing this letter in order to appeal why I was unable to petition my academic probation sooner. Over the past year I had an immense struggle with my mental health. Which led to problems with my school and doing very poorly in my classes. Therefore, I was put on academic probation for the school year. However, this specific petition is dedicated to why I was not able to petition this problem any sooner.

I was diagnosed with severe anxiety when I was twelve and it has always been a huge problem and very paralyzing for my entire life. I have spoken to several therapists throughout my life and although it has been getting easier to control as I’ve gotten older, this last year was the hardest one yet. I had a very hard time adjusting to university life and living away from home, my friends, my family, and my entire support system. As I will explain in a separate petition. However, this specific petition is dedicated to the timeline of May first to September first. My mental health struggles very much carried on after I got home as mental health does not just disappear. I found myself too anxious and gut-ridden to even look at my classes and how I did the past school year. Even though I knew I should have checked I physically felt like I could not and my mind would go into a state of fight or flight and flight won every time. From May to the end of July I was very much still in a terrible state and due to my anxiety it caused me to live in a state of denial and I compartmentalized everything that happened in the year prior. Therefore, I was not in a mental state to even write a petition letter at the time as I didn’t even know I was on probation.

As for the month of August, I only found my mental health getting better towards the end of the month, when unfortunately there was an accident and my phone and water while at my cottage the last week of August. From there on my phone completely crashed and all of my apps and phone entirely were gone. I then got a new phone however my phone number, email, and apps were not working at all so I had to wait another week to get my phone fixed. Then, once I had my new phone back I re-downloaded all my apps but the authentication app and my Queen’s Microsoft Email, however it was not allowing me to log in to any of my queens accounts. Such as email or OnQ. I attempted to fix the issue but nothing was working. I ended up calling Queens IT service to help me set up a new authentication app by deleting and resetting my old account. However, I was still not able to log into my Queen’s email on my phone so I ended up calling Queens IT twice, in order to set my email up on my computer. However, I initially did not see any email from Queen’s about a probation. I immediately emailed both Queen’s student services and Queen’s admissions and that led me to speaking to an Academic Advisor on September 3rd. She advised me to write this letter and express my apologies for the year. I have been seeing a therapist for a week now and I spent the whole summer getting my life back on track and working hard to get ready for the school year. I came into this school year with a new hope and feeling extremely driven and determined to make my redemption this year. I can assure you I am a very dedicated student who has strived for great grades my entire life. As for the past year my mental health really took a toll and didn’t allow me to show that.

This last year it felt like my life fell apart and I couldn’t physically do school on top of it, as I struggled to even get out of bed. I was so ashamed to express this to my family, friends, and teachers throughout the year and left me feeling completely alone. However, now I am completely open with everyone in my life and it took a large toll on me to even express the troubles I’ve had to the people closest to me. I have a new organization and responsibility tools from my therapy that will allow me to succeed here on out. As well as a new positive attitude, I have spoken to my physician about going on medication to help reduce my anxiety, and I will have that sorted in my next couple days. I am going to continue therapy for the rest of the year to ensure that I stay on top of my anxiety and to ensure this will never happen again. I am hoping you will allow me a second chance and I will not let you down, and I can guarantee that you will never have an issue with me again.

I am very worried about what a year off school will do to my mental health as it has already been struggling and will set me back from the progress I have made. I very much respect the integrity of the school and swear to uphold and achieve qualifying grades from here on out. I have had both my mother and therapist attach a letter testifying to my issues over summer and the past school year in addition to my appeal. Therefore, I am hoping there is something you can do to allow me to continue with some sort of school this year. Again, I promise I am a very dedicated and hardworking student and I apologize that I was not able to prove that to you last year, but I can guarantee if you give me the opportunity I will prove it to you now. Thank you so much for your time.

Thanks again,
Jaycee Comish