Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: After graduating from high school in 2019, I decided to take a gap year before starting university. During my gap year, I participated in a program abroad during the months of February to July 2020, with the pandemic starting just one month after my arrival in March. I spent the start of the pandemic isolated from any major cities and together with the other program participants in a remote location. As a result of our remote location we did not experience the full effect of the pandemic and in fact were able to carry on with life almost as normal.

It was only when I returned to Canada in late August that I first experienced the changed world that we are now living in as a result of the pandemic. The seismic change in lifestyle led me to become quite fearful of the virus and its spread. In August, I was accepted into residence after having been initially placed on the waitlist. I chose to move to residence in the hopes of making new friends and learning my way around Kingston and enjoying my first year of University immersed in University culture.

Upon my initial move into residence I was shocked to see large groups of students gathering unmasked and without any social distancing throughout the campus. There was no University security or police of any kind monitoring the behaviour of these students and cases quickly started rising as a result.

In an effort to protect myself from the COVID-19 virus, I withdrew from most contact with other students and slowly became isolated in my small, cramped and hot residence room. Repeated efforts by me to have the heat properly regulated in my room were not met with action by building maintenance. Uncomfortable from both a physical and emotional standpoint, I began having trouble dealing with remote learning which I was experiencing for the first time.

I started to fall behind in my studies and began internalizing my feelings, fearing that speaking out would expose me as a failure and a disappointment. I didn¿¿t know whom to talk to or how to reach out and I starting experiencing symptoms of depression. I was unable to properly function and was unable to organize myself, do my work or communicate my feelings with anyone. The situation quickly snowballed and one missed assignment led to the next and the semester quickly spun out of control.

As the November drop date approached, I dropped one class. Thinking that there could still be a way for me to catch up and not wanting to reveal the true extent of my depression to my parents or others, I did not take steps to drop them. I kept hoping I would be able to catch up and there wouldn¿¿t be a problem, but I didn¿¿t know who to reach out to and I became either further paralyzedwas embarrassed. In some classes, I managed to complete some of the work but as the semester continued I became more depressed and could not bring myself to talk to anyone about it or complete the work I had to do.

I experienced difficulty in all remote learning, but even more so in the classes where there was no live teaching. I had never experienced teaching in that manner and that fact that there was no face to the class acted to isolate me even further and made reaching out for assistance even more difficult.

It was only after I was given the option to withdraw from residence that I finally was able to approach my parents, and we agreed that from a mental health point of view it would be best for me to leave residence and move home for the remainder of the year. I am now at home in a healthier setting where I am starting to seek therapy to work through my situation and the depression I suffered and continue it to suffer from.

Throughout high school I was a strong student who achieved good grades, but I never had to deal with a situation like that thrown at me this past fall. The manner of teaching that I experienced this year was far different than that to which I had become accustomed and the confinement caused by the virus along with my shame and depression kept me from reaching out for assistance. There was simply too much pressure as a result of the pandemic, the University¿¿s relative lack of enforcement, programming or guidance, the total lack of social contact and the difficulty of remote learning. All these items combined together have not allowed to show my true potential which has only exacerbated my suffering.

I never expected my University life to start under such trying circumstances and I found little in the way of support to assist me. I am now actively building a support system to help guide and assist me and I am hopeful that slowly I can get back to academic, social, physical and emotional success. I am hopeful that you will understand that the pressures placed upon me and the mental health issues that led to these extenuating circumstances upon which I base my appeal to you.