Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to appeal to be able to drop failed courses after the deadline. I am hoping to drop my failed courses from second and third year, which will effectively change my academic standing and allow me to continue at Queen¿¿s this coming fall. I understand that this is an unorthodox request and that I am well past the deadline, but my circumstances were different than most.

I am a sociology student from Vancouver who just completed my third year. However, it all started at the beginning of second year. I had experienced anxiety throughout high-school and during my first year, but I assumed that that was standard for a kid trying to navigate first-year University, half way across the country from his family. I finished up first year in good standing, an active member of the Varsity Sailing Team, a member of Queen¿¿s model parliament and moving into a house with 4 new friends I had made on my floor. At the end of the summer leading into second year, I was offered, and accepted, an opportunity to sail for a team representing the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club in the North American Championships and an international cup-challenge during the first few weeks of September.

I came to school a week late, and then traveled for another sailing event the week after. Two weeks behind, I began to struggle, as I was already behind in my first semester as a sociology major. With the struggle came increased anxiety. The anxiety led to a worsened performance in school, and with that poor performance, the anxiety worsened. The cycle got extremely bad, and resulted in really poor grades in first semester of second year. In hindsight, I should have suck help and discussed my problem early in this semester, but I was scared and confused and in denial that it was all happening.

As second semester arrived around, my girlfriend went on exchange to Australia, and my greatest support system disappeared, though she was unaware of what was going on personally and academically. The struggles continued in second semester, and the anxiety became crippling. I couldn¿¿t look at the textbook or my course¿¿s Moodle pages without being overcome by this detrimental fear and anxiety. The cycle of poor grades and worsening anxiety continued and culminated with another horrible semester academically, and being placed on academic probation. At this point, I was so far gone, that I hadn¿¿t told anyone what was going on mentally or academically, and didn¿¿t even know where to look for help.

Third year brought about some new changes, as I was the captain of the Offshore team within the Varsity Sailing Team and I moved into a 2 bedroom apartment with my best friend. While the fall semester was okay, and our team did win a national championship and qualify for the Student Yachting World Cup and I worked hard to try and salvage my grades, I still struggled tremendously. The anxiety was worse than ever, and I began to become quite depressed as well. At the beginning of my second semester of third year, I partially came to terms with what was going on. I reached out and saw an academic advisor and counselors several times in January.
However, my personal issues worsened dramatically. I tore two ligaments in my knee and wasn¿¿t sure if I would be able to sail at all this year, my housemate was diagnosed with Crohn¿¿s Disease and subsequently had a break down, leaving school and our house without telling me, my girlfriend of 2 years and I broke up, and my parents announced that they were retiring at the end of the summer and moving onto their boat to sail around the world. I was now living alone, with no idea what my future held and in a dark place. I spent days without leaving the house or getting out of bed, and hours on end crying for no reason. While I know that this should not be a sob story, I feel it is important to discuss how the extent of depression and anxiety were absolutely crippling. I was taking five sociology courses to try and get my degree back on track, clinging onto school as the only structure left in my life. While I still struggled tremendously, I worked really hard to continue on academically, spending hours in the library every day with the hope that I could salvage what little I had left. I finished the semester holding on to a thread.

When I got home in late April, I finally told my parents about the anxiety and depression. I saw my doctor and a psychiatrist, and began taking anti-depression and anti-anxiety medication. I have set up a regular schedule to see my psychiatrist, and am taking two online commerce courses in hopes of eventually completing the business diploma along with my degree, working a full time job and am training for the World Championship in November for Queen¿¿s. While I understand that this letter is beyond late, and this should have been dealt with a long time ago, it is only now that I have the capacity to reach out for help. I am moving into a new house with my good friends, I am training to represent our University and Canada this November on the World Stage, and I am striving to be there for my sister, who starts her first year at Queen¿¿s this fall. I am asking for a second chance, an opportunity to try again, and to come back home to Queen¿¿s. Thank you for your consideration,

Connor MacKenzie
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