Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Benard and Dr. Blake,

I want to begin by thanking you for taking the time to read and consider my first appeal to waive the 21-day timeline for submission. I am now writing to you to appeal for a credit standing for my first year courses; I am currently going into my third year.

My main trouble was coping with the assignment of me and my floor mates. I lived on West Campus all of first year, so to deal with the mild isolation from Main Campus, I was looking forward to making good friends in residence to feel more at home. However, being someone who chose to not drink or party during my first year, I faced a huge culture shock. For me, it is one thing to meet people who have different interests than you, but it is another thing to have been mistreated solely for the reason that I did not party like the rest of my floor. I tried many weeks into first semester to be open and friendly to my floor mates by leaving my door open some nights, and joining them for lunch or dinner. However, I feel that no matter how hard I tried, I would constantly be left out of conversations and eventually, I kept feeling like I was somehow lesser than them. Around October was when I started to be hard on myself and blame myself for being like this and not being outgoing or like them, so I became isolated from my floor. I would get extremely anxious when I'd see them and I would spend long hours every night thinking about what I could have said in conversations and how I could have acted differently. I felt more awkward in my own skin and I would have constant periods of worry and anxiousness at night. All of this time spent on worrying about how I seemed in front of my floor mates was time taken away from my studies. I really wish I could voluntarily drop all the worries and focus on myself and my studies, but it felt as if my thoughts were overpowering. My floor mates always sat in our hallway in a group, talking about topics that I couldn't relate to and things that would make me feel uncomfortable, like drinking, partying and especially hooking up. I truly felt alone and by October, I was as anxious as I have ever been. I could not reach out to people other than my parents because I felt embarrassed about how overwhelmed I was about everything and how I was failing my assignments and tests.

In October, just as my anxiousness and isolation had peaked, my parents urged me to switch floors. As soon as the idea was put into my head, it took me two weeks to gather up the courage to submit my request to change floors. As if I didn't have enough on my mind, my mind started to race about what my floor would think of me when they found out I wanted to move floors. Looking back, it's so childish to think about but I was in fear. My mind was taken 100 by the idea of moving and dealing with the what-if repercussions of it, that I physically and mentally could not focus on my courses. A week later I got the OK to move floors, and so I did, followed by teasing comments like you're a traitor and why do you hate us by my floor mates. Regardless, I truly believe that if I spent second semester on that floor, I would need to take some time off for my mental and emotional well-being.

Putting aside having felt isolated from the community, I was overwhelmed with my courses on top of everything else. I was failing math tests left and right. I was both mentally and emotionally devastated after my first Physics mid-term, and assignment after assignment of getting low grades left me hopeless for my first exam period. I felt so overwhelmed with everything, from floor mates to grades, I truly did not know what to do. I just remember a week before my exams, I got to a point where I would cry almost every night and be on the phone with my parents. I accepted the fact that I was in a situation where I was extremely behind and all I could do at that point was try my best. I barely passed my exams and went into the winter break being glad it was all over.

My new floor helped me make a 180 turn and get back on my feet. I felt more welcomed in a week being there than I ever was on my old floor. My mind felt a lot calmer and slowly but surely, I was gaining my confidence back, both socially and academically. I was starting to try new methods of studying habits and by midterms, I was doing really well. I got around a seventy percent for my physics exam which to me was my biggest accomplishment that year. Still my grades were not enough to have a good academic standing, and I got a probation warning. I went into Biology, but the pressure was on for me in second year. I ended first year with a 1.64 and I ended my second year with a 1.98. I worked the hardest I've ever worked and I know there is so much more room for improvement. I landed this last semester with the highest marks I've ever gotten, but I know I will do so much better. I am so strong mentally and spiritually, and this whole journey taught me so much about myself.

Starting second year, I made many Academic Success Service appointments to help me with time management, work scheduling and stress-control. Although I had my days of breakdowns this past year, I got into the habit of mindfulness and meditation. I worked on my sleeping schedule and incorporated healthy eating into my diet, as well as exercising constantly. I will definitely keep that up in third year as well as using the same note-taking skills I used this past year. This summer in August, I'm taking a field course which I am really excited for. That is definitely going to boost my GPA, while giving me a great experience. I am planning on taking two more field courses next summer so I can lessen my course load during both semesters. I came a really long way and I couldn't be more proud of myself, but I also don't want to see all of my hard work to fail me in the end, all because of my circumstance in first year. I most desperately need a credit standing for my first year courses because they are the only ones bringing down my GPA.

Attached is a letter written by solely my parents-I didn't have any say in it to make it as less biased as possible to help you make your decision.

I truly thank you for giving me your time and consideration and I cannot wait to hear back from you.

Sincerely,

Berenda Sayadof