Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Arts & Science

1. Purpose Please consider my petition for Credit (CR) Standing for KNPE 153: My final grade of C greatly undercuts my capabilities as a student and my commitment to success in the Kinesiology program. I experienced simultaneous undiagnosed Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and major depression due to transitioning to degree programs. This caused a lot of trouble for me in KNPE 153.


2. Work Ethic Did Not Translate To Expected Grade: I switched to Kinesiology from Economics to pursue my dream of working in the NFL as a strength and conditioning coach. KNPE 153 had my full level of commitment:


-Hours Studying: Before the final exam, I was studying 10+ hours a day at the library and spending $300+ of my own money on over 4 private tutor sessions.


-Proof of Knowledge: Despite failing the final exam, my term work reflects that I knew the content. I scored 100% on Assignment 2 and 91% on Assignment 3.


-What Went Wrong: During the final exam, my undiagnosed ADHD resulted in brain completely went “blank” in the high-stakes timed environment. I was sweating profusely and pulling my hair out so much that I couldn’t read the questions fast enough to finish almost half the exam. I also had to take many bathroom breaks from the stress, my small bladder and the side effects from my medication, leading me to lose even more time. I only ended up completing about half of the exam, maybe more, and had no time to look over my work. I also had a really hard time reading and understanding the information in the question due to the high pressure i felt, leading me to have to read over questions multiple times and even skipping some.


3. Medical Context and Transition Challenges: This was my first semester in a new, science-heavy program. During the Fall Reading Break, I was prescribed Dextroamphetamine to manage focus issues, though I did not yet understand that I qualified for institutional support. By the final exam on December 18, my distress was so high that I contacted a mental health helpline for support after completing because I was so devastated. It was only after a formal diagnosis in January and a transition to Vyvanse that I was able to secure the QSAS accommodations I now use: 30 minutes of extra time per hour, a private room, and restroom breaks. Had these been in place in December, my grade would undoubtedly reflect my assignment 2 and 3 getting 91% and 100%, and my quizzes which i averaged around an 85% throughout all of them instead the C i got due to improper conditions of where i took my finals.
4. Procedural Struggles and Lack of Support: I made every possible attempt to resolve these issues within the department before filing this petition:

-Contacted Instructor: I emailed Professor Pouya Amiri 3 times regarding my performance (Oct 14 regarding 6% being taken off the assignment due to sickness and being at home in vancouver and anxiety of other assignments and classes going on at the same time, still getting adjusted to kinesiology and how different it is from economics. Oct 23 regarding no clock during the midterm, and Dec 18 regarding losing my mind during the final).

-Non Responsive Instructor: Professor Amiri did not reply to any of my emails. When I asked to meet in person after Reading Break after one of the lectures, he showed no sympathy and told me he does not make alternative assignments or even add weight of the missed assigment on to other assignments or examinations.

-Contacted Student Wellness: I immediately reached out to Student Wellness Services (SWS) after completely losing it during my final exam to get help with my medical issues. and even talked to a counsellor outside of Queens.

5. Please waive regular regulations: As stated above, I did not complete Assignment 1 because I was dealing with sickness and extreme anxiety and panic with that due to needing to catch up on all the rest of my courses and extra catch up other assignments ( note: Mr Amiri only discussed quizzes in class and never mentioned anything about assignment 1, therefore i assumed we didnt have assingments), (NOTE: diagnosed with ADHD after the midterm). This does not reflect my work ethic as a student because I showed 100% attendance in every class (except being sick i missed 2 classes) and excelled at every other aspect of term work.

Conclusion: KNPE 153 was the first course where I experienced major medical hardships as a student. I am now working with QSAS, SASS, Adaptive Technology Services, and my advisor Tori Thornton to prevent this from happening again. Allowing me to pass KNPE 153 with a CR standing will let me continue towards my goals without my GPA being tanked by one bad semester due to an undiagnosed medical condition.

Ben Siska

student number: 20487966