Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To: Dr. Johanne Bénard, Associate Dean (Studies)

My name is Hailey Mallow and I am appealing for aegrotat standing in RELS 131 (Fall/Winter 2015-2016) and ENGL 223 (Winter 2016), credit standing (CR) in HIST 125 (Fall/Winter 2015-2016), as well as to drop GPHY 101 (Winter 2016) past the deadline.

I am requesting this appeal do to extenuating circumstances, beyond my control, namely psychological and medical challenges, coupled with family problems. I was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder that presents itself with panic attacks, periods of intense dread, social anxiety, and avoidance behaviours. This disorder makes it challenging for me to complete school assignments as my anxiety makes it hard for me to focus on my work. Deadlines can also be a problem as they can cause panic attacks if I am feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

My struggles were made worse this academic year as my grandmother suffered a massive stroke in September. She was hospitalized for months, became immobile and needed a massive surgery. Even after she was released she need round the clock care and copious amounts of therapy. This put an enormous amount of stress on my family. My anxiety made it so that all I could think about was the horrible things that have gone wrong, or might go wrong, with my grandmother. In addition, my grandmother became unable to visit my grandfather who is suffering from late stage Alzheimer¿¿s disease making me immensely worried about his well being, something that was already a major trigger for my disorder. I was worried for my father and how he was coping with having two extremely ill parents. My panic attacks became more prevalent during this time and I was unable to focus on anything and found the prospect of handing in assignments or participating in class to be panic inducing.

My primary coping mechanism became avoiding handing assignments in, in order to stave-off panic attacks. For example, I was almost never able to complete forum posts in ENGL 223 or RELS 131 do to anxiety over having my work be seen by all my classmates. It wasn¿¿t that I didn¿¿t want to, or forgot to complete assignments, but my body and mind were unable to cope with them. My academic record reflects this as I did not fail assignments I handed in, but rather, I was handing them in past the deadline and losing marks, or simply not completing the assignments at all. The projects and tests that I did complete I passed and often did well on, however, because of missed assignments my overall grades in RELS 131 and ENGL 223 were failures. Similarly, I was not able to participate in Adobe sessions and missed two essays in HIST 125 do to my anxiety, but ended up with a low passing grade.

Despite these setbacks I am hopeful for my academic future. Since the end of the 2016 Winter semester I have found, and am regularly seeing, a new counsellor (Nicole) who is helping me develop better coping mechanisms that allow me to focus on my school work. It also gives me someone to talk to and keep on top of my disorder so it doesn¿¿t impede my day-to-day life. I am also taking my medication more regularly as to help keep my moods level, enabling me to work on and hand in assignments without fear of panic attacks or feelings of intense anxiety. Additionally, my grandmother is recovering well and is almost back to her old self. I am confident that my regular counselling appointments and new medication will help support my academic goals and allow me to achieve my future plans.

Thank-you for taking this under consideration.

Warm regards,

Hailey Mallow