Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 209
Submitted: June 16, 2014 at 9:14:20 PM
First Name: Sean
Last Name: Sutherland
Student Number: 10057416
Email: 11sms33@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: ENGL
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: June 16, 2014
J. Hugh Horton, Ph.D. and Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Deans (Studies),
I am writing to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a period of one year, as extenuating circumstances, specifically depression, have negatively impacted my academic performance during the two years of study I have been at Queen¿¿s.
Over my two years of study at Queen¿¿s, I have been suffering from depression, with it having worsened during my second year of study. In my situation, suffering from depression impacted my academic performance a great deal, as I oftentimes found myself unable to focus on the tasks set out for me in my courses during the school year. This meant I often fell behind in readings, or found myself unable to focus on my lectures. It also meant that I failed to complete assignments during the course of the year, as my struggles with depression seemed to overwhelm my ability to complete schoolwork. On numerous occasions, I found myself unable to take the steps to leave my house and attend classes, as I felt overwhelmed by not only my coursework but by life in general. This situation occurred frequently with both ENGL 200 and ENGL 290, the required courses for my degree program. Due to frequent absences brought on by this feeling, I fell behind on lectures and readings in my courses. By falling behind in my readings, I felt a great deal of anxiety about showing up to class, which worsened my emotional and mental states in regards to attending class. These kinds of episodes increased in frequency as the year progressed, becoming more prevalent in the later stages of second semester, especially in the last few weeks of classes. As I found myself unable to deal with my schoolwork my academic performance degraded a great deal. I failed to hand in a number of assignments during the year, as I struggled with a sense of apathy towards school and in my everyday life. Essentially, I felt as though none of what I was doing really mattered. This feeling was its worst during the winter exam period, as I struggled to attempt any studying for the year. At the same time, I found myself on other occasions to be overly emotional and unable to do schoolwork as I couldn¿¿t do it properly in the emotional state I was in.
During the school year, I did not attend any form of counselling or therapy to help deal with my depression, nor have I done that in the past. I also did not speak with my instructors or teaching assistants about the nature of my problem. However, I am currently taking steps to deal with my depression in a more suitable fashion, as I have begun to seek out professional help on the matter, including setting up sessions with Health, Counselling and Disability Services at Queen¿¿s, as well as looking for options off-campus.
J. Hugh Horton, Ph.D. and Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Deans (Studies),
I am writing to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a period of one year, as extenuating circumstances, specifically depression, have negatively impacted my academic performance during the two years of study I have been at Queen¿¿s.
Over my two years of study at Queen¿¿s, I have been suffering from depression, with it having worsened during my second year of study. In my situation, suffering from depression impacted my academic performance a great deal, as I oftentimes found myself unable to focus on the tasks set out for me in my courses during the school year. This meant I often fell behind in readings, or found myself unable to focus on my lectures. It also meant that I failed to complete assignments during the course of the year, as my struggles with depression seemed to overwhelm my ability to complete schoolwork. On numerous occasions, I found myself unable to take the steps to leave my house and attend classes, as I felt overwhelmed by not only my coursework but by life in general. This situation occurred frequently with both ENGL 200 and ENGL 290, the required courses for my degree program. Due to frequent absences brought on by this feeling, I fell behind on lectures and readings in my courses. By falling behind in my readings, I felt a great deal of anxiety about showing up to class, which worsened my emotional and mental states in regards to attending class. These kinds of episodes increased in frequency as the year progressed, becoming more prevalent in the later stages of second semester, especially in the last few weeks of classes. As I found myself unable to deal with my schoolwork my academic performance degraded a great deal. I failed to hand in a number of assignments during the year, as I struggled with a sense of apathy towards school and in my everyday life. Essentially, I felt as though none of what I was doing really mattered. This feeling was its worst during the winter exam period, as I struggled to attempt any studying for the year. At the same time, I found myself on other occasions to be overly emotional and unable to do schoolwork as I couldn¿¿t do it properly in the emotional state I was in.
During the school year, I did not attend any form of counselling or therapy to help deal with my depression, nor have I done that in the past. I also did not speak with my instructors or teaching assistants about the nature of my problem. However, I am currently taking steps to deal with my depression in a more suitable fashion, as I have begun to seek out professional help on the matter, including setting up sessions with Health, Counselling and Disability Services at Queen¿¿s, as well as looking for options off-campus.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: In regards to my academic plan, I feel as though the greatest hindrance to obtaining a strong level of performance in my program is the fact that I did not deal with my depression in any sort of positive manner. Therefore I think the most important aspect of any academic plan is ensuring that I find a way of coping with depression. I believe the best way of doing this is to attend counselling or therapy regularly, whether on or off-campus. I am in the process of attending counselling from HCDS, and will continue to try and rectify the issues that prevented me from achieving a satisfactory academic performance. From here I will be able to better build strategies to deal with both the emotionally overwhelming feeling, as well as the feeling of apathy, allowing me to attend classes and able to keep up with my coursework. Instead of allowing my depression to have such a large impact on me, this plan allows me to deal with my situation in the proper manner and allows me the chance to improve my focus and other issues that prevented me from achieving academic success. If my appeal is successful, I intend to take between 24.0 and 30.0 units during the 2014-15 academic year, including retaking the required English courses I failed, specifically ENGL 200 and ENGL 290, as well as other courses necessary for my continued studies in the English Language and Literature program. While this may be difficult, after the struggles I had in the past two years with coursework, I believe that having a full course load allows me to put my full effort into my academics and improve my grades. I acknowledge that there is no simple solution to depression but I feel as though getting the proper help will allow me to obtain the grades expected of me by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. As I did not undergo counselling during the past two years, I did not properly manage my depression and it worsened. While my situation has not improved as of the current moment, I feel as though by taking the steps to undergo counselling I am making the moves that will allow me to improve my situation by the start of the upcoming academic year a great deal. By improving my mental health, I feel as though I will be better suited to deal with the pressures that come with academics, as well as be able to achieve much higher grades in my courses. By establishing a support system for myself, my grades will have the opportunity to improve, and be closer to the academic performance I showcased during high school.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: Documentation from HCDS
Decision Letters
History
Originally submitted June 16, 2014 at 9:14:20 PM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | Prepared for Review | Rhonda Sullivan | 2014-06-18 11:06:00 AM | |
| status | N/A | Prepared for Review | Incomplete | Haley Everson | 2014-06-19 3:13:12 PM | |
| status | N/A | Incomplete | In Review | Haley Everson | 2014-07-02 11:29:20 AM | |
| status | N/A | In Review | Granted | Haley Everson | 2014-07-09 11:12:24 AM | |
| associate_dean | N/A | J. Hugh Horton, Ph.D. | Haley Everson | 2014-07-09 11:12:24 AM | ||
| decision_letter | N/A | N/A | Decision letter sent | Haley Everson | 2014-07-09 11:14:02 AM |