Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to drop CLST 341 (fall 2012). Unfortunately, I have missed the deadline and understand that much time has passed since I have taken this course, however I had been dealing with a lot of personal family issues and mental health problems throughout this time which disabled me from seeking guidance on how and when to properly go about dealing with this grade. Throughout my 3rd year of university, I was dealing with a lot of mental stress and anxiety, mainly centered around my grandfather passing away and my father having to travel back to Iran, leaving my mom in charge of not only keeping the house in order but also having to financially keep everything afloat. Unfortunately, my parents do not have a high income and the financial burden of my dad being preoccupied with personal family events in Iran for the past 2 years has caused an even greater stress on my mother, brother and I. In my third year I had to appeal to drop CLST 343 because of my inability to sleep, focus and struggles with severe anxiety, regarding my parents financial situation and my grandfather's death. This anxiety eventually turned into an extremely bad cycle that I was hoping to break after noticing how greatly my academics were being affected. Unfortunately, I was too embarrassed and nervous to tell anyone about my personal struggles and only saw my doctor one time regarding the issues, convincing myself that I would be able to fix them on my own. After appealing to drop CLST 343, my father was supposed to be arriving back to Toronto that year, however his visited got extended 6 months because my grandmother got sick and had to undergo three surgeries within 2 months. This subsequently, sent me into another state of panic and depression which disabled me from realizing my academic state in the course that not only required a lot of hours outside of the classroom but also a lot of focus in order to memorize all of the necessary information. As I tried my best to do well in the class, I wasn't able to pull myself together and really focus on my current courses. After failing the course I am appealing to drop (CLST 341), as I was able to speak to a counsellor who advised me to appeal. My anxiety and stress became so severe that at times I could not sleep for 2 days consecutively, leaving me foggy and unable to focus on anything besides my personal issues. I tried very hard to keep afloat throughout that year, however I was ashamed regarding my situation, and state of academics, which sent me into a deeper depression. Unfortunately at that time I was unaware of how badly my marks were being affected in CLST 341, as my thoughts and mind were not all there. I did seek help and advisement, but after failing the course I was left even more worried, anxious, and depressed about my situation, which disabled me from seeking the proper advisement in that moment on what steps to take next. Since then, I was able to confront my mother about my mental health issues, my anxiety regarding my grandfather passing and my financial worries. I have been speaking over the phone with my counsellor once every two weeks for the past year, which has helped me deal with my anxiety and stress, enabling me to really focus on my academics and schoolwork. I hope to get that mark that I received in this class dropped, in order to fully move on from that extremely low period in my life. I am in my 5th year of university, working as hard as I can to pull up my academics with a future hope of going to teacher's college in order to help children that had to go through a similar situation cope and bounce back. Getting this mark dropped would help me in completing that goal, and also, as previously mentioned, really allow me to move forward from an extremely dark time in my life.