Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 71
Submitted: May 16, 2014 at 11:59:48 AM
First Name: Glad
Last Name: Dragos
Student Number: 10025387
Email: 1gd4@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BSH
Plan: GEOL-M-BSH
Level of Study: 3
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the 21-day or one term deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Glad Dragos
10025387
To the office of the Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing the twenty-one day appeal deadline in order to validate my request for Credit Standing in GEOL 106, POLS 110 and FILM 110.
As a new Arts and Sciences student at Queen¿¿s, I was planning on getting a Bachelor¿¿s degree in political sciences and further my studies into law afterwards. Starting near the middle of the fall term of 2011, I began noticing an influx of negative changes starting to take over my life to a degree that I have not previously experienced. I attempted to reject these changes, considering that I was only going through a trivial phase that I was waiting for to pass by. Due to very little mental and emotional support from my parents upon inspecting my grades from the fall term, I fell into a mentally unstable state that advanced with a snowball effect, due to the added pressures that come with first adapting to the university environment.
I failed a course and dropped another two courses in order to preserve a passable GPA for the year. It was at this point that I turned to smoking cigarettes as a means to calming myself down from the anxiety that this period had caused for me. I also started experimenting with a variety of ADHD medication as I felt that it was my only hope of passing the courses I was still enrolled in. I became addicted as I felt the need to take these medications daily since they also suppressed my feelings of depression to a certain degree. This sterile routine reached its end after I found the courage to seek help for myself, around the middle of February in 2012. I approached Queen¿¿s Health and Disability Services and the people there advised me to see a psychologist. Upon meeting with him, Dr. Chuck Vetere has helped me vocalize my issues and brought up my self-esteem. I also started booking many appointments with academic advisors in order to secure a future path for myself and to ensure success.
It was near the end of the 2012 winter term that I was ready to start making changes in my lifestyle towards a positive outcome, with the help and care received from Dr. Vetere, my high school math tutor and my friends. I took a course during the 2012 summer in order to boost my GPA, as well as starting to write the appeal. At the time, I had no sources to account for the claims I was making beside the few visits I had with Dr. Vetere, however, I wanted to write a strong appeal and knew that I must also appeal to waive the 21-day regulation. Being unsure as to whether I was making a mistake in writing the appeal, since at the time I did not fully understand the severity of my issues, I wanted to complete second year before making a decision on submitting it - in order to prove to myself that there really was something amiss about my mental health during my time in first year and that it was not an ongoing state. As I developed a relationship with Dr. Vetere and my old math tutor separately throughout the fall and winter terms of second year, more evidence of my situation became available that outlined my experience to a high degree of accuracy. It was due to these meetings with Dr. Vetere that have enabled me to see that I had persisting anxiety issues throughout my life and it was something to start working on immediately. Becoming aware of my situation helped me realized that my struggles at the time were not my fault, which gave me a lot of hope and enabled me to plan future goals. When I attempted to contact Dr. Vetere, I received news that he had become unreachable for the next couple of months; he was the only person at the time that was able to validate my case from a professional perspective. After going through many people to reach him, I was finally able to get in touch with him at the beginning of the 2012 Fall term due to his personal sickness and time off from his office.
It was very hard communicating with him at this time, however, many issues were cleared up in the 2013 Winter term as I had everything I needed from Dr. Vetere and was able to get my tutor as a second source to giver her input regarding my appeal since I opened up to her the most and she had seen me progress mentally and academically during the summer. I frequently met with her that summer in order to prepare me for the calculus and physics courses I enrolled in for the 2013/2014 year (I had no previous mathematical knowledge since I last took grade 10 math, nor did I take any science courses). Due to her sickness, I was unable to get in contact with her until near the end of the 2013 Winter Term.
As summer of 2013 began, I was gravely assaulted in my home city, leaving me in the hospital for a week and in dire conditions for the next couple of weeks following that, as well as treatment plans that will be ongoing throughout 2013/2014 school year. Documentation is provided from my surgeon at the time after I was let out of the hospital. The event resulting in a serious trauma to the face and skull, I was unable to eat, sleep, nor think properly for the first healing period. For most of the summer, I was constrained to my bed and restricted from participating in any type of physical activity and was unable to work on the appeal. In this time, I also had to appeal to drop a summer course I was taking, MATH 121, because my state did not permit for me to finish the online course.
My recovery will never be fully complete, however I have been seeing specialists and undergoing surgeries, which made it difficult for me to split my time between school work and other activities. The recovery is no longer detrimental to my academics and being isolated from my usual activities in this time has allowed me to focus my time on studying and learning.
The series of events explained hindered me from submitting the appeal within the 21-day limit as described by the appeal regulations. I believe that I have made great progress since my acceptance to Queen¿¿s University and I am not planning on giving up on my dreams and goals anytime soon.
Sincerely,
Glad Dragos
1gd4@queensu.ca
10025387
To the office of the Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing the twenty-one day appeal deadline in order to validate my request for Credit Standing in GEOL 106, POLS 110 and FILM 110.
As a new Arts and Sciences student at Queen¿¿s, I was planning on getting a Bachelor¿¿s degree in political sciences and further my studies into law afterwards. Starting near the middle of the fall term of 2011, I began noticing an influx of negative changes starting to take over my life to a degree that I have not previously experienced. I attempted to reject these changes, considering that I was only going through a trivial phase that I was waiting for to pass by. Due to very little mental and emotional support from my parents upon inspecting my grades from the fall term, I fell into a mentally unstable state that advanced with a snowball effect, due to the added pressures that come with first adapting to the university environment.
I failed a course and dropped another two courses in order to preserve a passable GPA for the year. It was at this point that I turned to smoking cigarettes as a means to calming myself down from the anxiety that this period had caused for me. I also started experimenting with a variety of ADHD medication as I felt that it was my only hope of passing the courses I was still enrolled in. I became addicted as I felt the need to take these medications daily since they also suppressed my feelings of depression to a certain degree. This sterile routine reached its end after I found the courage to seek help for myself, around the middle of February in 2012. I approached Queen¿¿s Health and Disability Services and the people there advised me to see a psychologist. Upon meeting with him, Dr. Chuck Vetere has helped me vocalize my issues and brought up my self-esteem. I also started booking many appointments with academic advisors in order to secure a future path for myself and to ensure success.
It was near the end of the 2012 winter term that I was ready to start making changes in my lifestyle towards a positive outcome, with the help and care received from Dr. Vetere, my high school math tutor and my friends. I took a course during the 2012 summer in order to boost my GPA, as well as starting to write the appeal. At the time, I had no sources to account for the claims I was making beside the few visits I had with Dr. Vetere, however, I wanted to write a strong appeal and knew that I must also appeal to waive the 21-day regulation. Being unsure as to whether I was making a mistake in writing the appeal, since at the time I did not fully understand the severity of my issues, I wanted to complete second year before making a decision on submitting it - in order to prove to myself that there really was something amiss about my mental health during my time in first year and that it was not an ongoing state. As I developed a relationship with Dr. Vetere and my old math tutor separately throughout the fall and winter terms of second year, more evidence of my situation became available that outlined my experience to a high degree of accuracy. It was due to these meetings with Dr. Vetere that have enabled me to see that I had persisting anxiety issues throughout my life and it was something to start working on immediately. Becoming aware of my situation helped me realized that my struggles at the time were not my fault, which gave me a lot of hope and enabled me to plan future goals. When I attempted to contact Dr. Vetere, I received news that he had become unreachable for the next couple of months; he was the only person at the time that was able to validate my case from a professional perspective. After going through many people to reach him, I was finally able to get in touch with him at the beginning of the 2012 Fall term due to his personal sickness and time off from his office.
It was very hard communicating with him at this time, however, many issues were cleared up in the 2013 Winter term as I had everything I needed from Dr. Vetere and was able to get my tutor as a second source to giver her input regarding my appeal since I opened up to her the most and she had seen me progress mentally and academically during the summer. I frequently met with her that summer in order to prepare me for the calculus and physics courses I enrolled in for the 2013/2014 year (I had no previous mathematical knowledge since I last took grade 10 math, nor did I take any science courses). Due to her sickness, I was unable to get in contact with her until near the end of the 2013 Winter Term.
As summer of 2013 began, I was gravely assaulted in my home city, leaving me in the hospital for a week and in dire conditions for the next couple of weeks following that, as well as treatment plans that will be ongoing throughout 2013/2014 school year. Documentation is provided from my surgeon at the time after I was let out of the hospital. The event resulting in a serious trauma to the face and skull, I was unable to eat, sleep, nor think properly for the first healing period. For most of the summer, I was constrained to my bed and restricted from participating in any type of physical activity and was unable to work on the appeal. In this time, I also had to appeal to drop a summer course I was taking, MATH 121, because my state did not permit for me to finish the online course.
My recovery will never be fully complete, however I have been seeing specialists and undergoing surgeries, which made it difficult for me to split my time between school work and other activities. The recovery is no longer detrimental to my academics and being isolated from my usual activities in this time has allowed me to focus my time on studying and learning.
The series of events explained hindered me from submitting the appeal within the 21-day limit as described by the appeal regulations. I believe that I have made great progress since my acceptance to Queen¿¿s University and I am not planning on giving up on my dreams and goals anytime soon.
Sincerely,
Glad Dragos
1gd4@queensu.ca
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: A letter from my psychologist at Queen's Health and Disability Services, Dr. Chuck Vetere.
Document: Anca Letter.jpeg
Document: Sunnybrook Letter.jpeg
Decision Letters
Amendment to Appeal 71
Relevant Petition: 71
First Name: Glad
Last Name: Dragos
Student Number: 10025387
Email: 1gd4@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BSc
Plan: ELEC
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Code: GEOL 106
Term: Winter
Year: 2012
Petition Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor's Name: Dr. Sandra McBride
Code: POLS 110
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2012
Petition Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor's Name: Dr. Kim Richard Nossal, Dr. Jonathan Rose
Code: FILM 110
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2012
Petition Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor's Name: Dr. Sidneyeve Matrix, Dr. Peter Baxter
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Glad Dragos
10025387
To the office of the Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing to request Credit Standing in GEOL 106, POLS 110 and FILM 110, which I have completed in my first year at Queen's.
Looking back at my first year and summer, I was unsure as to whether I would be able to stay in university due to my mental health. I decided that my grades in second year would determine my stay at Queen¿¿s. After completing the first semester of my second year I received higher grades because I was taking courses that I developed a big passion for. In first year, I struggled with my depression and anxiety with no real support from my family or friends. This had led me to dislike myself and I looked for ways to escape these feelings by relying on ADHD medication, thinking at the time that it would help fix my problems; that they required some form of external intervention to achieve a resolution. I also had a strained relationship with my father that put extreme stress on my academics. Coming from an immigrant family, his constant disapproval as a result of unrealistically high expectations became extremely overwhelming and amplified my anxiety. As well, I had recently ended a long distance relationship with a girlfriend of three years, which proved detrimental to the stability of my health at the time. I was struggling with making friends due to these circumstances and with the stress from my father and girlfriend; I began isolating myself from others out of fear of rejection for what I was going through. I struggled to attend classes, ate very poorly (if at all) and spent most days in my room, questioning my existence. The topic of depression was always a subject that was frowned upon in my European household, rendering my inability to rely on my family for support. I had made a limited number of friends and was afraid to open up to someone because of the social stigma of depression.
During the summer of 2012, I realized that I had found passion in courses related to the field of Engineering. I sought out help from a tutor to prepare me in the necessary courses so that I would be able to excel in them. She saw the potential in me and I worked hard so that I could make up for my fall in first year. I found the courage to open up to my parents about my mental health and although it took time for them to accept it, there have been many positive changes. They are now more supportive of my academics and less intrusive on my life as a whole. I found the courage to approach Queen¿¿s Health and Disability services and was scheduled to frequently meet with a psychologist, Dr. Chuck Vetere. He concluded that I had a form of anxiety that seemed persistent throughout my life, which may have stemmed from the relationship between my father and I. I could not otherwise have acknowledged this because I was denied by my parents the ability to see a doctor for testing on attention hyperactivity and anxiety disorders and was scolded upon bringing up the subject. Through time, Dr. Vetere helped me find ways to better cope with stress and identify early signs of depression so that I would be open to help and not damage future outcomes. Starting in my second year, I found myself to be living with peers who were sensitive and understanding to my situation and this has been a great help in finding both a social and academic niche at Queen¿¿s. Looking at my transcript up until the end of my third year, there has been a significant change in my grades showing that I have progressed in changing my living and social environment for the better. I have met with numerous academic advisors in this time in order to transition into the Faculty of Engineering; which has been my ultimate goal upon realizing my interests in life. Many of the subjects I have focused on as well as my interests are very closely tied to the fields of engineering and I am prepared for how I am expected to perform. Physics was the subject I felt most connected to; it helped me see past the trivial aspects of a monotonous lifestyle I had been under the influence of and allowed me to developed a thirst for understanding and building the world around me. In order to ensure that the course load will not overwhelm me, I have decided to take a lighter course load so that I may be able to concentrate on both my academics and mental health. I have recently reached my goal and accepted my offer to the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Coming into university I excelled academically, something I was unable to show during my first year, not due to my intellectual incompetence, but because of being hindered by mental health. Although I have struggled in the past, I am pushing myself everyday in order to excel. I do not believe that my first year grades are a true reflection of my work ethics. I am now in a program of my choice and I regularly meet with professors and academic advisors so that I can keep an open progress. I am submitting this appeal because I feel that I have made the necessary changes to excel academically and therefore believe that I should continue pursuing an engineering degree with marks representing my honest abilities as a person working towards building a better and sustainable future for the generations to come.
Sincerely,
Glad Dragos
1gd4@queensu.ca
10025387
To the office of the Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing to request Credit Standing in GEOL 106, POLS 110 and FILM 110, which I have completed in my first year at Queen's.
Looking back at my first year and summer, I was unsure as to whether I would be able to stay in university due to my mental health. I decided that my grades in second year would determine my stay at Queen¿¿s. After completing the first semester of my second year I received higher grades because I was taking courses that I developed a big passion for. In first year, I struggled with my depression and anxiety with no real support from my family or friends. This had led me to dislike myself and I looked for ways to escape these feelings by relying on ADHD medication, thinking at the time that it would help fix my problems; that they required some form of external intervention to achieve a resolution. I also had a strained relationship with my father that put extreme stress on my academics. Coming from an immigrant family, his constant disapproval as a result of unrealistically high expectations became extremely overwhelming and amplified my anxiety. As well, I had recently ended a long distance relationship with a girlfriend of three years, which proved detrimental to the stability of my health at the time. I was struggling with making friends due to these circumstances and with the stress from my father and girlfriend; I began isolating myself from others out of fear of rejection for what I was going through. I struggled to attend classes, ate very poorly (if at all) and spent most days in my room, questioning my existence. The topic of depression was always a subject that was frowned upon in my European household, rendering my inability to rely on my family for support. I had made a limited number of friends and was afraid to open up to someone because of the social stigma of depression.
During the summer of 2012, I realized that I had found passion in courses related to the field of Engineering. I sought out help from a tutor to prepare me in the necessary courses so that I would be able to excel in them. She saw the potential in me and I worked hard so that I could make up for my fall in first year. I found the courage to open up to my parents about my mental health and although it took time for them to accept it, there have been many positive changes. They are now more supportive of my academics and less intrusive on my life as a whole. I found the courage to approach Queen¿¿s Health and Disability services and was scheduled to frequently meet with a psychologist, Dr. Chuck Vetere. He concluded that I had a form of anxiety that seemed persistent throughout my life, which may have stemmed from the relationship between my father and I. I could not otherwise have acknowledged this because I was denied by my parents the ability to see a doctor for testing on attention hyperactivity and anxiety disorders and was scolded upon bringing up the subject. Through time, Dr. Vetere helped me find ways to better cope with stress and identify early signs of depression so that I would be open to help and not damage future outcomes. Starting in my second year, I found myself to be living with peers who were sensitive and understanding to my situation and this has been a great help in finding both a social and academic niche at Queen¿¿s. Looking at my transcript up until the end of my third year, there has been a significant change in my grades showing that I have progressed in changing my living and social environment for the better. I have met with numerous academic advisors in this time in order to transition into the Faculty of Engineering; which has been my ultimate goal upon realizing my interests in life. Many of the subjects I have focused on as well as my interests are very closely tied to the fields of engineering and I am prepared for how I am expected to perform. Physics was the subject I felt most connected to; it helped me see past the trivial aspects of a monotonous lifestyle I had been under the influence of and allowed me to developed a thirst for understanding and building the world around me. In order to ensure that the course load will not overwhelm me, I have decided to take a lighter course load so that I may be able to concentrate on both my academics and mental health. I have recently reached my goal and accepted my offer to the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Coming into university I excelled academically, something I was unable to show during my first year, not due to my intellectual incompetence, but because of being hindered by mental health. Although I have struggled in the past, I am pushing myself everyday in order to excel. I do not believe that my first year grades are a true reflection of my work ethics. I am now in a program of my choice and I regularly meet with professors and academic advisors so that I can keep an open progress. I am submitting this appeal because I feel that I have made the necessary changes to excel academically and therefore believe that I should continue pursuing an engineering degree with marks representing my honest abilities as a person working towards building a better and sustainable future for the generations to come.
Sincerely,
Glad Dragos
1gd4@queensu.ca
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: Supporting Letter from Dr. Chuck Vetere, Queen's HCDC
Document: Anca Letter-0.jpeg
Document: Sunnybrook Letter-0.jpeg
