Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Bénard:
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I am writing this letter to appeal my case in order to allow me to drop the following courses late: ECON 250, ECON 212, ECON 222, WRIT 120, AND ANAT 100 (Requesting a possible extension for incomplete WRIT 120). ¿
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I am a second year economics student who is in the process of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder which has significantly impacted my ability to perform to the level of my proven ability.
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My first year of undergraduate studies was challenging for all the normal reasons and then some.¿ When I moved to Kingston in August 2014 I didn¿¿t realize the overall impact this would have on me, my personality, my ability to focus and deal with anxiety and stress..¿ This was my first time away from home and being just 17 years old, I struggled with not having the support available to me that I had become accustomed to in my own community.¿ At the mid-term mark I realized I was unfocused and significantly struggling with my academic and social life. I was isolating myself from my peers, not participating in lecture, then not attending lecture and finally withdrawing from academic activities.¿ I would isolate myself and become anxious when needing to attend lecture let alone write an exam.¿ I experienced the same anxiety and stress in social environments be it academic purposes or other. There wasn¿¿t a lot of opportunity for me to discuss the challenges I was having with my family or friends and I pretty much isolated myself and hid my issues. I narrowly scraped by first year with passing grades in all my courses, a distant gap form A¿¿s I was used to in high school.
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In summer 2015 I determined I would need to do something to ensure my success and I started doing some independent research and trying to apply techniques to deal with my issues. By the time September came and I was to begin second year, I was feeling somewhat confident.¿As term progressed, I soon realized that things had not improved and I found my behaviour becoming a concern. I began seeing a counsellor with health counselling and started to explain to my Mother some of the feelings I was experiencing. Throughout the year I continued to struggle and went to counselling as often as I could. Unfortunately, this was not enough and it didn¿¿t exactly work out the way I had planned and prepared for. I was not successful in many of my courses first semester and struggled with courses second semester. This is why I submitted an appeal at the end of winter term 2016

Throughout the summer of 2016 both my mother and father were vaguely aware of the hard time I was going through with school. They had no idea to the degree I was struggling or what my grades were in courses taken. I knew it would be difficult for them to understand the challenges I was facing and the degree to which I was struggling. Add to that the fact that I was not able to talk about my issues to anyone, other than my counsellor. In my mind I wanted to go back and start doing better before I could tell them about my past course grades. I wanted to prove I could do better when I told them how poorly I had been doing. Unfortunately, my academic progress was not what I was trying for and my plan did not work.

This past year, my third year, was more of the same from the previous year even though I invested more time and energy in trying to improve. Although I continued to see a counsellor on a bi-weekly, then weekly basis; I failed three courses in the Fall 2016 and achieved a C+ in each course I did pass. Mostly due to the fact I could not cope with writing my exams and did extremely poor on all of them. I was in no state of mind to appeal these courses at the appropriate time as my condition became significantly worse and did not have the clarity of mind to take any action.

This past semester was my worst semester yet. About halfway through the semester I completely stopped attending lecture, completing assignments or writing tests altogether. My anxiety was extreme and every time I would try to catch up it became a cycle of panic and anxiety which resulted in my ability to accomplish even less. I did not write any of my exams and was only able to complete 50 of my online course load. I am now appealing to drop the courses indicated as I believe I have a plan that will assist me in attaining success going forward.

I have finally come clean to my parents and siblings about my overall struggle with anxiety and my academic situation. I now know I have their support to do whatever I need to do to get healthy and cope with my diagnosis. I am meeting with my family physician on a regular basis and have been taking medication for the last two weeks. I am also in the process of setting up regular therapy appointments with a counsellor in Mississauga. After consultation with parents, my Academic Advisor (Spring Forsberg-Lewis) and my physician, I hope to continue my studies in the upcoming Fall 2017 through a lighter course load with online courses that I can take from home. I am focused on returning to Queens fulltime in Fall 2018 to complete my degree. I am a determined and dedicated individual and I am confident given this opportunity and allowing my appeal will assist me greatly in achieving success.

I appreciate your consideration of this appeal and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Connor Pardy