Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am requesting a Credit standing in LLCU210 due to extenuating circumstances that I have faced this past semester. Within the first month of classes, a close friend of mine from home got into a near fatal car accident in which she was impaled by a metal rod and almost decapitated. She had to undergo many surgeries and almost lost her life in the trauma unit at Sunnybrook Hospital. In addition to this, her lungs collapsed multiple times and then was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin¿¿s Lymphoma. At the time that this happened, I was attempting to balance this issue with my school work and began to fall short. After Thanksgiving weekend, when my friend was in her worst state, we had a midterm in this class in which I did poorly on due to the mental trauma this caused for me. I was not in the right state of mind. This continued throughout the semester. As this was the only class that I was in that involved testing, I was able to work through the essays and such for my other classes with the assistance of my Professors. I have still been dealing with the issue at hand and feel as though this has greatly impacted my mental health in a negative way. I began seeing a therapist at home as a way to attempt to deal with this, yet due to the extremity of it, therapy did not seem to help. I genuinely feel that the grade that I received does not reflect the student that I am and believe it would help me a great deal mentally to know that the issues that I was forced to deal with will not impact my grades. It is very difficult to balance mental health with assessments, especially tests, when my focus is placed elsewhere. I attempted to study with classmates and studied well in advance under the suggestions of my Professor, but due to my mental health state, it did not help me. I will be continuing to work towards bettering my mental health for next semester, as I am seeing a therapist throughout this winter break. In addition to this, I have decided that enrolling in less in-class time would be helpful in order for me to continue seeing my friend and supporting her throughout her recovery.