Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Stephenson

My name is Julia Hamilton. I am a third-year biology student and I am appealing to drop my my fall 2018 Chem 281 grade and my winter 2019 Biol 334 grade.

My second year here at Queens, in which I failed these two classes, was one of the hardest years of my life from a mental health perspective. Returning to school in September of 2018, I felt myself starting to struggle with anxiety. I have dealt with differing levels of anxiety my entire life, however, never as severe as last year. In the fall 2018 term, I started to have occasional panic attacks, both in class and at home. Certain triggers would make my anxiety worse. One of those triggers happened to be writing exams. Yes, some anxiety when writing exams is very helpful. It forced me to study as hard as I could, as I was so anxious about the exam. However, I experienced the not so helpful side when I sat down to write my Chem 281 exam in December 2018. I had prepared so hard but when I sat down, I felt myself falling into a panic attack. I could feel my heart racing and my breath disappearing and all those hours I spent studying and knowledge just gone; I completely blanked. This happened in all of my exams that semester. However, Chem 281 was the worst as it was a very heavily weighted exam which increased my anxiety. As the semester had been going on, on top of my increasing anxiety I was starting to struggle to get out of bed or honestly feel any kind of emotion at all.

When I went home in December, I was surrounded by my friends and family and
temporary felt a little better. When I returned to Queens in January 2019, I felt like things would be better. I was wrong. My anxiety intensified. I stopped caring for myself and could barely get out of bed to get to class and would go for weeks without showering or taking care of myself. When the spring exams rolled around, I was in one of the lowest places of my life. I was doing well in only one of my five classes which was writ 125, an online writing class that I could do from the comfort of my bed and there was no final exam. Trying to motivate myself with my success from this class I studied hard for my finals for the winter 2019 semester. Once again anxiety drove me to study as hard as I could, and once again it caused me to blank and have some of the worst panic attacks in my final exams. Biol 334 was the largest final I had ever written yet in my undergrad career. I loved the prof and found the course interesting. I started studying a few weeks before the final and studied harder than I ever had for an exam. However, the same thing happened as with chem 281; I walked into the exam hall sat down and felt all the breath leave my lungs and knowledge leave my brain. Walking out of that exam I felt completely and utterly defeated.

After the end of the school year I still hadn't realized just how bad my mental health was and that I needed help. When I returned home at the end of my second year, my friends and family could clearly tell that I needed some help. With their support, I started to see a councillor and talked to my family doctor. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in the summer of 2019. I started to become more aware of my emotions and it was not until October, with the medication I had been prescribed and by talking to a professional did I truly realize how far gone I was. I started my third year in fall 2019, with a whole different outlook on things. I was now able to deal with stress and I felt like I could finally see what was happening around me clearly again. I also realized that my mental health had affected my academics last year, and that I needed to see what I could do about it. I made appointments with an academic adviser and accessibility services. I received accommodations to write exams in a smaller room to reduce anxiety and I learned about appealing grades. I made a new plan for my academics; I plan to switch my degree from, an Honours in Biology to, a three-year Bachelor of Biology. I no longer need to replace the chem 281 and biol 334 credits and will not be retaking them. This year I have still been struggling and having a few hard days. But, with the medication and counselling, I feel like I actually have a chance to succeed. Yes, in some of my biology classes I fell behind from the lack of information I took away from last year. Nevertheless, I am now able to deal with my stress and have been working hard to catch up. I have applied to nursing programs at other schools as I feel it is something I am passionate about and I have learned this during my past few years at Queens. I hope you will consider the circumstances of my appeal and thank you for taking the time to read this letter.



Sincerely,
Julia Hamilton