Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am appealing to drop ENSC 201 (Winter, 2019). The reason for me making this appeal, is due to extenuating circumstances that occurred on November 13th, 2018, regarding my mental health, that put me in the hospital. Shortly after these events I contacted and made an appointment with my psychiatrist in Toronto, in attempt to get back on track for the Winter semester. I also made and attended an appointment with Queen¿¿s counselling services, in order to create a support system in Kingston. Come Winter semester, I did my best to focus on what was best for me, academically and mentally, and took on a smaller course load of three courses. This, however, still seemed to be too much for me to handle at the time, as I was still recovering from what had occurred in November, and I found myself unable to handle the three courses.
I am appealing to drop only ENSC 201 because this course was very far out of my strengths, as an English focused student, and I became unable to effectively cope with how overwhelmed the tasks of this course made me. I was not in a consistent and stable mental state, where I was able to grasp and tackle the concepts that were presented in the course. I continued to try and convince myself that I would be able to adequately complete the course, but collateral damage of what had happened in November continued to impede my ability to put in the time and energy required to complete work in the course and attend classes.
In order to prevent something like this from happening in the future, I have made the decision to prioritize the improvement of my mental health, which I have failed at in the past. This summer I will be working very hard on tackling the issues that have been holding me back from thriving academically, and maintaining regularly scheduled appointments with my doctors. I know I am capable of maintaining and exceeding both my own and Queen¿¿s University¿¿s expectations and goals for their students and am fully dedicated to take the steps to make this happen.

Nicolette Fantin