Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Michaela Valente. I am in my second year of the kinesiology program at Queen¿¿s. I am appealing to drop KNPE 227 this term (Winter 2017) due to extenuating circumstances from a concussion I sustained earlier this semester.
It has been just over 9 weeks and minimal recovery has been established. Around the same time of the concussion, I additionally broke one of my ribs. The healing process has been extremely grueling. During the past several weeks, I have tried to continue with a full course load of 5 classes as well as being a part of the Athletic Therapy mini-stream here at Queen¿¿s. As you can see I have a very full schedule that would be difficult to maintain regardless of these setbacks. It has been difficult for me to maintain a consistent quality of work for my academics. I have tried working with academic counselors as well as my profs to find appropriate scheduling to fit and figure things out for my classes, however I am still finding it too strenuous to keep up with everything. Being unable to participate and complete my full course load causes me more stress and less time to completely heal from my current condition. I am still dealing with these two conditions and the symptoms that accompany them. Throughout the course of the semester post-concussion, I have had to make many accommodations for all my classes such as extra time and pushing back test dates but it is simply not enough. I have been actively seeing the concussion doctor, Dr. O¿¿Conner, at the clinic here on campus. The last time I had an appointment, the doctor prescribed me with a medication to help me sleep and reduce headaches caused by lack of sleep. So far, the medication has been helping and I have scheduled follow up appointments in the near future. Currently, my academic performance as well as my health and well-being are dramatically suffering.
For me to complete this year on a better note, it would be most beneficial for me to drop a course, that course being KNPE 227 and complete it at another time. I am planning to retake this course in the Winter 2018 term, next year. I understand that it is now week 12 and there is not much of the course left to complete, but this has been an ongoing process and decision to fully drop this course. I have looked at all of the options presented to me for extenuating circumstances, so that I may complete the course this school year but unfortunately I will not be well enough to actually catch up and complete this entire course to the best of my ability. My goal is to do well in this course as well as my other current courses, which is why it is crucial for me to have this time to heal and get better, so that next year I can continue to learn without these setbacks. It has been very difficult to come to this decision, but I have thought about it extensively and I have planned my future accordingly based on this obstacle. Additionally, by currently being in the Athletic Therapy mini-stream, next year I will start my placement and assuming I complete the next two years of placement, I will be achieving 9.0 credits total (4.5 per year) towards my undergrad credits. This is helpful in reassuring that I will not be falling too behind credit wise. After speaking with numerous doctors and academic advisors, I am confident that this is the best way for me to get better.
I hope you can understand the situation I am in and see that this is the most beneficial option for my health at this point in the year.
Thank you in advance.