Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: December 01, 2014

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Meghan Froebelius, a fourth year undergraduate student in the Faculty of Arts & Sciences with a major in Drama. I am also enrolled in the Concurrent Education program. I am submitting this letter of appeal to request permission to drop the online class WRIT120 past the fall drop deadline.

My focus in my program is stage management, a very high-demand and taxing job in the theatre and something I hope to continue working in as my career. I am applying to Masters programs in stage management after I have completed my degree. This year however, being a senior production student, I was required to take on high responsibility production jobs within the department, such as production managing the Queen¿¿s Drama Department¿¿s Winter Major If We Were Birds. I have also been completing my first professional theatre internship, stage-managing a play called Rare in downtown Kingston (The play is performed by a group of actors who all have Down syndrome). I am also a teaching assistant for Drama 100. On top of all of this, I have been attempting to finish my degree requirements in order to graduate this year.

My GPA for my past two years of study has remained in the range from B to A- and in order to be accepted in to masters programs in stage management I knew it would have to remain that way. However mid-October it became apparent that I would not pass WRIT120 due to time constraints and I planned to drop the class before the fall drop deadline. However my to-do list for this semester has been so long and so demanding that the ¿to do¿¿ of dropping the class got lost in the last and I missed the deadline. Not for lack of planning but because of a to do list that was impossible to tackle.

Immediately, I reached out to the professors of the class (through e-mail as they are not in Kingston) and heard nothing back. I sent a long e-mail (the e-mail is attached in my supporting documents) explaining my circumstances and asking if there was any way I would still be able to pass the class but still have heard nothing back.

I also struggle with anxiety and have been seeing a counselor at HCDS, Chuck Vetere, for a while in order to deal with this. It¿¿s not easy being in management positions and struggling with intense feelings of failure and family pressures, feeling anxious to the point where I break down in tears thinking about the length of my to do list. Mr. Vetere has said that he is willing to support this appeal and you will see that in his letter that is attached in my support documents.

I had every intention of dropping this class before the drop deadline but my anxiety and my responsibilities prevented me from doing so on time. I am asking that with this appeal you please consider my past record of involvement and high grades at this school. I have made a mistake, which I own up to, but not being able to drop this class would be extremely detrimental to my future.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Meghan Froebelius