Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern (Re: Madeline Tripp, 10111257)

I am currently a second year Kinesiology student. I am writing to describe the extenuating circumstances behind my difficult decision to withdraw from studies at Queen¿¿s University at this time. Approximately five months ago, near the end of June, I began to experience mild depressive symptoms, related to a multitude of stressors beginning in March when my grandfather passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack. Soon after his funeral, his wife (my grandmother), had a traumatic accident and broke her femur which required her to have her hip replacement replaced as well. Unfortunately, around this same time I began to experience fainting spells caused by abnormal heart rhythms. I was in and out of the hospital for multiple tests as the fainting was persistent, and was ordered to take time off from my part-time job. I was told eventually that the heart problems I was experiencing were from stress. Me taking time off from my job resulted in a very questionable termination by my boss and ultimately, another stressor.

The stress that I had been experiencing mounted and became very difficult to deal with. I tried, but was unsuccessful trying to manage on my own. At the end of June I started to believe that things were going bad. As the months went on, I began to notice my experience of stress becoming unmanageable, which has been recently described to me as depression. These symptoms gradually worsened and became more prevalent. By the time the new semester began I was continually experiencing symptoms of sadness, and lack of energy. Looking back, I was not mentally ready to have a good semester. I believed I could fight through it alone, being a varsity athlete with a once outgoing personality, that I would be able to ¿¿tough it out¿ and get through the semester so long as I kept trying harder. I now realize how difficult the task was and it significantly impacted my life mentally and academically.

Sports was one way for me to feel normal, to fit in, but in the second week (September 16th, 2014) I suffered a season ending injury at the Queen¿¿s field hockey practice, dislocating my hip. Since this time I have had to deal with pain, constant appointments with orthopedic surgeons, setting up various diagnostic tests (such as an invasive scope I am waiting to have), etc. I had to miss approximately a week and a half of class, as I was not mobile. At this time my symptoms of depression had worsened and I had experienced more severe emotions (i.e., sadness, loneliness, helplessness) and also less and less energy. I had difficulty focusing my thoughts, which makes studying impossible, leading to poor academic performance. I still feel this way. My grades have suffered immensely, and I feel guiltier than ever. On top of this, I had been very distressed in not telling my father, a Queen¿¿s professor, because I felt I let him down. I was going in a bad direction and finally, I have recently spoken to my family.

I have also recently started therapy (Dr. Leonard Harris) to assess and cope/deal with my mental illness. This will hopefully help me get back to being normal. I have documentation from him to support my claims, as well as my lack of judgment resulting in my unfortunate withdrawal from school now, instead of on October 31st.

The documentation will be sent tomorrow morning, if not by the end of tonight.