Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies),

I am appealing to drop CISC220 taught by Professor Khalifa, CISC124 taught my Dr. Mcleod, and BIO205 taught by Dr. Chin-Sang, for the fall term.

For the past two years I have been depressed; it was something never diagnosed but something I struggled to keep from affecting me for a long time. Around halfway through the semester, I could no longer find it in myself to continue pretending I didn¿¿t feel the way I did, and almost instantly lost my energy, ability to sleep and eat, and all motivation and focus to do neither schoolwork nor the activities I usually enjoyed in my spare time. Out of desperation for my future I reached out to Queen¿¿s Counselling, where I was eventually recommended to see a doctor and was clinically diagnosed with depression. Even as I was prescribed a medication and continued to see Queen¿¿s Counselling every week, I found myself resigning. I 'crashed' to put it simply; lost the energy to do anything and allowed my feelings to consume me. I tried very hard to keep up with my schoolwork, even dropping my most difficult class before the drop deadline in order to help me keep up. I unfortunately only found myself getting worse after the deadline, to the point where I nearly spent a night in the hospital out of concern for my safety. The past few weeks have been very dark and very troubling for me. I completely lost my will to maintain my courses, and by that point the drop deadline had already passed. Trying to do my coursework while I have been in such a state, although intended to keep me from being idle, did not give me the chance to focus on recovery for which I have suffered dearly. I have not been able to work the way I know I am capable of, and I am still struggling to overcome those effects to this day. Since my diagnosis I¿¿ve been attending weekly counselling at Queen¿¿s Health and am seeing a doctor biweekly for checkups, as well as having started medication to help me overcome my depression.

My long-term goal is to rid myself of my condition, but in the next semester I plan to continue seeing my counselor and doctor as well as taking my prescribed medication as long as my doctor advises it. I am going to retake all the courses that I am dropping this term. CISC124 I would like to take next semester, as it is a prerequisite for many of the courses in my program. As CISC220 and BIO205 are not offered next semester and are not critical in the advancement of my program, I will be taking them at a later semester during my time at Queen¿¿s. I am also going to take a lighter course load next term to prevent myself from being overwhelmed as I readjust back into being an active worker.

My greatest hope now is to become strong enough to get back on to the track of finishing a degree at Queen¿¿s. I have allowed my negativity and stubbornness to prevent me from getting the help I need for two years, and I only hope that I will be allowed to correct the repercussions of my mistakes before it is too late.
Thank you,

Vanessa Reda
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