Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Sonya Patel¿¿15sp90@queensu.ca
304-493 Princess St.
Kingston, ON, K7L 1C3
June 12, 2018

Associate Dean (Studies)
Queen¿¿s University
Kingston, ON

Dear Associate Dean (Studies):
I am appealing the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a minimum of 3 years and if possible, appeal to drop PHGY 170 (Fall, 2017) from my transcript as extenuating circumstances affected my studies during this school year.
The circumstances that I experienced were quite detrimental to my well-being, and were beyond my control, as it interrupted my schoolwork on a daily basis. Being unable to have the energy to go to class on a daily basis, not eat a proper diet at all, all while experiencing great melancholy due to intense generalized anxiety and major depressive disorder affected my schoolwork, which is seen through the grades I received during this time. Not only did I miss daily classwork, but I had given up on myself so much, that I missed projects, assignments, and papers. However, as I began to fall apart, I did attempt to get professional help, but to no avail; I was turned away from many mental health services, including Queen¿¿s Counseling Services, as they were understaffed. After several failed attempts that took a daunting toll on my mental health, I retreated from society, my friends, and school. Due to conflict about my health between my family and I, we had had no contact since the first day of the fall semester; I felt I had no one to turn to. By the time my professors reached out in worry due to my lack of schoolwork, I had had a few dark moments that had further deteriorated my mental health. It was not until December 2017, after 4 months of depressive behavior, that I was able to see a psychologist outside of Queen¿¿s, where I was formally diagnosed with depression, and started on an antidepressant. They then were able to refer me to the culture counselor, who I now see every other week. Throughout second semester, I continually improved, working through issues with my counselor as well as through self-practices. There were a few bumps in the road, however, it was not as severe as the fall semester thanks to my growing support system that I did not previously have. However, it was not enough time to bring up my course marks as the courses that I took in second semester were part of year-round courses, meaning my detrimental first semester marks took a grandeur toll on my final grade. However, my improvement in my health can be seen in accordance with my upward trend in my marks for the second semester, and I only foresee it continuing to improve.
I urge the importance of when these issues developed as they were not part of the issues I had last year, for which I also needed to send in an academic appeal. These issues were greatly due to family outcast, destroyed self-esteem, and an imbalance of my emotion chemicals that were not present in the previous year. Now, with the help of Dr. Arunima Khanna of Student Counseling Services, I have been reunited with my family, and we are on our way to understanding each other¿¿s differences, as I come from a background where mental health is a ¿¿mind over matter¿ situation. I am also much more emotionally stable, happier with my well-being and self-esteem due to the antidepressant that is working wonderfully side-by-side my self-care practices. This is why I ask to drop PHGY170 from my transcript, as it is not a true representative of my intellectual ability, just a course taken when I was in my dark pit of solace during the first semester of this past school year, and is only degrading my GPA.
As per my future plan, it is already in place; I plan to continue with it as it has been a great source of recovery for me, both mental health wise, and physically in my schoolwork, as my grades are on an upwards trend to recovery. Since February of 2018, I have been meeting to discuss my issues and self-care practices almost every other week with a culture counselor, Dr. Arunima Khanna of Student Wellness Services. She has been a great source of support through my second semester, understanding how my issues relate to my background and culture, always urging me on knowing that my sadness will pass, and not allowing me to fall into my sorrow, exactly what I needed to make my second semester a turnaround. Because I decided to live in Kingston over the summer, I have been fortunate enough to be able to see her these months without halt, which has been very helpful. I have also been on an anti-depressant to help manage my emotions and mood, greatly stabilizing such, and allowing me to continually go to class and finish my schoolwork on time. Finally, on occasion, another practice is seeing the crisis counselor Lorie, when I feel a spike in negative emotions oncoming, to prohibit them from developing further. Going forward I am taking only 4 courses per semester, as it is much more of a balance for my school and self-care. I am also looking into taking a Kingston General Hospital recommended mental health program named ITTP, which is an intense self-care training program that has seen great results with other Queen¿¿s students. In addition, during the second semester I was finally able to get my paperwork through to be inducted into Queen¿¿s Student Accessibility Services, to prevent my grades from being damaged if I do have a day or two where my mood isn¿¿t well enough to go to class. Finally, I am working with professors from my faculty, Haley Everson, my QSAS advisor, and Dr. Arunima to choose the best courses that work with my schedule, mental health abilities, and interests, in order to give me my best shot at succeeding here at Queen¿¿s.
I look forward to hearing your decision soon, but ask that the hold be taken off my SOLUS account, so I be will be able to choose courses within the normal timeline. Whatever your decision, please accept my sincere thanks for your time and consideration of my request.


Sincerely,

Sonya Patel¿¿
15sp90@queensu.ca