Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I suffered personal extenuating circumstances that were beyond my control that directly affected my academic performance for the 2017-2018 academic year. The circumstances in return directly affected my Winter 2018 semester. My circumstances included abuse both emotional and physical, psychological illnesses as well as a very sever family illness. While under a doctor's close care both at home and at Queen¿¿s Health Services, the medical conditions that I suffered directly affected my cognitive and physical functioning of everyday living as well as activities that are crucial for students to perform. My ability to focus, remember material, work on assignments, study for tests and exams, attend class or online learning sessions, as well as perform simple reading tasks severely diminished from December, 2017 to January , 2018. During the winter of 2018 I term a combination of partner abuse, psychological illnesses and a very sever family illness forced me to take some time off of my studies and go home after a personal failed suicide attempt.This unbelievable stress directly affected my ability to participate in classes and learn as the inner turmoil of my life was falling apart. Once my healthcare team decided it was best I go home to recover, I did not participate in any school activities for 3 weeks. I returned to Queen¿¿s ready to tackle my studies but i quickly found the stress from such a traumatic event directly affected my classes even more once I returned. My ability to attend class, focus on given material, study, complete assignments and complete my final exams was negatively affected feeling near impossible. These circumstances occurred in early January and just recently began to resolve now that I have moved away from Kingston and cut ties with my abusive partner. I also now have time to take care of my ill family member as well as my own psychological health.
In WRIT 120 I was unable to participate in the online forum posts and I did not hand in my first 3 assignments on time. I ended up completing the first 3 assignments and handing them in late. However, the level of my work for each assignment was drastically less than any other assignments I have ever completed while at Queen¿¿s as I was barely able to complete my work mentally. I was unable to participate in the online forums and submit my assignments on time as they were typically due when I was at work at 3:30.p.m. The inability to focus on my work as well as buy the class textbook drastically affected my overall mark of the course and forced me to submit work well below my potential.In PSYC 235 I was also unable to participate in the online forum posts, online quizzes, assignment 1 and I was barely able to write my final exam. The work i handed in for Psyc 235 was also affected by my inability to focus and put together concepts from the course. My biggest difficulty for Psych 235 was that I was unable to purchase the textbook for the course. I used my extra money for gas to drive home to take care of my ill family member. Therefore, I was unable to connect concepts from the online modules to the course text. There was also no textbook on reserve at the library. Also during my Psyc 235 final I had recently found out the my ill family member required help the next day so I rushed through my exam to drive home on time to help. In COMM 200 I also had to leave before I could finish my Final exam. I did have a B+ going into the exam and ended up finishing with a C in the course, due to having to leave. Which means I would have had to get an average of 33-42 on my final exam worth 35 to get a final of a C.
During the 2017-2018 school year I did try to help myself as much as I could. I tried to request academic accommodations throughout the year, I went to counselling on campus, I talked with my faculty academic advisor, and I even started a new prescription on top of my current anxiety and depression medication to try and put my best self forwards. However, the accumulating stress was too much for me to persevere through.
These circumstances directly affected my grades of the winter semester. For example, to compare, in the first term of 2017-2018 my Fall semester GPA was 3.8. However, my GPA of my second Winter term dropped drastically to 1.7. The dramatic drop in my gpa of a full 2.1 grade points is absolutely not reflective of my academic abilities. I am appealing two of my lower grades from the Winter semester primarily because I was accepted into graduate studies as I am graduating this spring. However, due to this drastic drop in my GPA I am now under further consideration for of acceptance offer and I may now lose my future education due to my circumstances. This in turn has drastically strained my psychological health even more. Please consider my appeal as I had no control over these circumstances and I truly tried my best to persevere through these pains but my life just spiralled faster than I could manage.