Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: October 15th, 2019

Dear Associate Dean,
I am appealing to extend my incompletes for the following classes; DEVS 221, DEVS 320, DEVS 492, GNDS 380, GNDS 401, DEVS 392, GNDS 432, GNDS 311 and GNDS 321. In addition, I am appealing to drop DEVS 240 and Arabic 100.

Appeals to Extend Incomplete/ Change of Grade

In DEVS 221 my course work is complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. I finished the course shortly after the time of my incomplete had lapsed. My Professor fully supports this appeal and once granted the change of grade paperwork can go through.

In DEVS 320 my course work is complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. My Professor fully supports this appeal. I have one final essay left that I completed this summer. Once an appeal is granted my professor can mark my essay and do a change of grade.

In DEVS 492 my course work is complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. My Professor fully supports this appeal. I have one final essay and a short assignment I completed this summer. Once an appeal is granted my professor can mark my assignments and do a change of grade.

In GNDS 380 my course work is complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. My Professor fully supports this appeal. I have one final essay that I completed this summer. Once an appeal is granted my Professor can mark my assignment and do a change of grade.

In GNDS 401 my course work is complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. My Professor fully supports this appeal. I have one final essay and two short assignments I completed this summer. Once an appeal is granted my Professor can mark my assignments and do a change of grade

In DEVS 392 my course work is complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. My Professor fully supports this appeal. I had one final essay and two short assignments I completed this September. Once an appeal is granted my Professor can mark my assignments and do a change of grade.

In GNDS 432 my course work is complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. My Professor fully supports this appeal. I have one final essay I completed this summer. Once an appeal is granted my Professor can mark my assignments and do a change of grade

In GNDS 311 my course work is not complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. I have one final ten page essay to complete in this course, as it stands Im done a rough copy of this final paper. I have the full support of the head of department for GNDS. Once an appeal is granted my final assignment can be marked and a change of grade can be done.

In GNDS 321 my course work is not complete. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. My Professor fully supports this appeal. I have one final essay and a small creative project left to complete this course. Once an appeal is granted, I can speak to my Professor and plan to have the work finished by end of October. After I complete the last bit of work my Professor can mark my assignments and do a change of grade.

Appeals to Drop

In regard to DEVS 240 from the winter of 2016 I would like this dropped. I needed the original incomplete due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete the final assignments for this class as the Professor was no longer teaching that course. I retook the class winter of 2019 and received a final grade of A-. A granted appeal would mean my GPA wouldnt be effected by my ongoing traumatic extenuating circumstances.

In regard to Arabic 100 of 2019 I would like this dropped. Due to serious recurrent physical and mental health issues, I was unable to attend some classes effecting participation and do to time conflicts and health issues could not complete the final exam either. I really hoped to complete this course and attended tutoring three times a week however due to the structure of this language class I could not complete the class with my extenuating circumstances. A granted appeal would mean my GPA wouldnt be effected by my ongoing traumatic extenuating circumstances.

Extenuating Circumstances

I would ask that the Associate Dean take a look at my transcript I have quite a bit of A-s and B+s. I am a highly motivated and inspired student dedicated to my research interests. Due to the nature of my recurrent mental and physical health issues there are times I copped better with my extenuating circumstances and there are times I did not and my GPA (course history) is reflective of that. Since fall of 2016 I have grappled with healing from invasive surgery, ongoing life and death circumstances with immediate family and debilitating mental health issues. I have been learning on the go and showing up. My professors are pleased with me and my engagement, and the work I have submitted thus far. As for why Im appealing this now: in the midst of these health issues (almost losing a parental figure several times this year, being hospitalized myself and mental health issues) I needed all this time. I completed what I could, when I could, and I always showed up and committed to the process of doing better.

Timeline of Circumstances & Impact They Had on Courses

Winter & Summer of 2016 Marked a period of time in which I prepared, experienced, and healed from invasive surgery that took place July 2016. The surgery along with my mental health issues made it difficult to complete two of my courses at the time DEVS 221 & DEVS 240. One of the main reasons I took longer than the allocated time of my incomplete for DEVS 221 is because of these circumstances I finished it October of 2016 (which is why I am asking for a change of grade to be processed for this completed class). As for DEVS 240 these circumstances hindered my ability to finish the at the time incomplete class (which is why I am asking this mark to be dropped). Winter & Summer of 2016 also marked the beginning of my mental health issues interfering with my ability to cope with my day to day. In preparation for Fall of 2016 I took on a reduced course load. Throughout Fall 2016 and Winter 2017 I steadily attended therapy, and learned various tools to cope with my mental health issues. I was successful throughout these terms because of my mental health support, reduced course load and the fact that my familial stresses were stable for the time.

Late Fall 2017 around November marked the beginning of traumatic ongoing family stress. I have almost lost my mother upward of twenty times since then, and her health is deteriorating rapidly still. I have commuted back and forth to Toronto to visit my mother in hospital, have had countless conversations with Surgeons and Doctors preparing me to say goodbye. I have always struggled with mental health issues, the circumstances related to mother since Fall of 2017 made these already existing issues debilitating. As a result I have grappled with severe panic attacks and crippling anxiety. Depression that has made day to day entirely complicated and difficult to navigate. My panic attacks have been so severe I have been admitted to hospital numerous times. All of this ongoing traumatic family stress, along with my existing physical health issues effected my ability to concentrate, attend some of my classes and meet deadlines. Through all of this though, I have made sure that I have had incredibly strong mental health supports, to further develop coping methods so that I could pursue my goals and aspirations that mean so much to me.

Final Thoughts

In Sum, I have completed all of the course work for seven out of nine of my appeals for extension of an incomplete and I am also asking to drop two classes. As for the two incomplete classes I am incredibly close to completion. I just have short final assignments left where I already have rough drafts completed. As well I have ongoing relationships, and open lines of communications with all my Professors regarding my goals. Along with support from Professors I also have strong support from my mental health support. My psychiatrist at Laselle Dr. Sylvester will attest and provide documentation for my situation. He has been my psychiatrist since November of 2017 and prior to that I was seeing other Psychologists, GPs and Health Care practitioners at Laselle. If anything, else is needed to further support timelines of my recurrent health issues, my health care supports will provide it.

As for why I am appealing these classes now in October of 2019, my reasons are financial and related to personal health. I continued to register for full time classes with outstanding work because If I took a further reduced course load I would not get enough funding for both my academics and living expenses from OSAP, so I had to continue taking classes despite not having resolved incomplete work/outstanding coursework. I also could not financially take time off throughout my undergrad because I either held a job as Don as I did in the 2018/2019 academic school year where I was contractually obligated to be in a full-time course load, or like in the three years prior where I was locked into a lease that I could not pay for without OSAP funding, which also required I maintained a fulltime course load. My financial stressors in having no familial contribution to my education and livelihood situation meant I as well had to navigate juggling multiple jobs throughout my undergrad in addition to severe traumatic ongoing familial and personal stress that left my mental health in precarious standing. Even now, while working incredibly hard this summer to resolve and alleviate severe symptoms of mental and physical health I have struggled immensely financially. I can only just now afford my appeal, even though with the help of Academic Advisor Haley Everson, my appeal has been proofread and ready to be submitted approximately three weeks prior.

In regard to the future I have sat down with all my Professors and if granted these appeals they will mark and do a change of grade for completed classes. Lastly, if granted I have set times I will meet with my Professors and know that I will be fully supported in my completion of this work by October 31st 2019. With all this in mind I will be on track for convocation November of 2019.

As for long term, I plan to graduate this November, take the year off and hopefully come back to Queens University for a two-year MA program starting 2020/2021. Ive begun speaking to potential supervisors and truly words cannot describe how excited I am for the future and how grateful I am for my time at Queens and my support network that has helped me get to where I am today despite recurrent serious physical and mental health issues. I am so excited by the prospects of the future.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration in reviewing my appeals,
Kind Regards,
Nadia Mahdi
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