Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Arts and Science,
I am writing this letter to appeal courses from my 2013-2014 academic year as well as my fall 2014 term. I am appealing to get credit standing on my transcript on the following course of my 2013-2014 academic year: POLS 366, POLS 342, WRIT 295. I am also appealing to drop the following classes: POLS 211, POLS 213, POLS 280 and POLS 384.

During this time of my studies I found myself coming head on with my struggles with anxiety and depression. Although I had experienced immense pressures and struggles with change in both first and second year of my studies, this year took to a more extreme level. The summer going into my fall term of 2013, I experienced the loss of my Uncle and had a hard time grieving. This loss as well as an abusive relationship took a toll on my mental and emotional state. As soon as the first week of studies began I found myself lost. Like most who struggle with mental illness, I was finding it harder and harder to get out of bed and go to class and instead found more time to work and keep my mind occupied on making money. Alcohol became a numbing agent to take away the pain and also to ignore my mental health. Abuse of substances ultimately acted as a way for me to ignore the pain I was experiencing and had a negative impact on most of my close relationships.

Therefore, I was experiencing struggles and complications with relationships with friends and family. This made me feel as if I had no support in my struggle with my studies and instead contributed to my ¿¿diminishing¿ self esteem. Entering Queen¿¿s I had a drive to do well and had a clear idea of my path throughout university. However, the pain and confusion I was experiencing was something I was not familiar with and something I was not able to handle or control. This lead to me losing focus on my studies and pushing away my problems for I believed I was unable to fix them at this time.

My transcript can prove that I had once been an average student, but lack of communication with peers in my lecture and more classes skipped ultimately caused me to lose track and struggle with my studies. I had never before reached out to anyone, and although I was aware that many resources for mental illness are out there to help me, I still found myself lost. I began to get upset and mad about how I was handling my struggles with life and my education.

Not until this fall term of 2014 was I able to reach out. I moved out of my student apartment and back with my parents due to the stability that they could offer. Within my 2013-2014 studies I had seen a few different health care professionals about my mental state but it was not until my parents recommended myself to my family doctor, that I was treated and soon put on anti-depressant medication. This was the best move for me at the time, for it brought light to both my family and my family doctor and my true issues and struggles would come to surface and be worked on. I understood at this time that my mental health the year before greatly affected my studies. My inability to understand the changes that come with entering university began as an extenuating circumstance which altered my studies at first, but the combination of loss, substance abuse, unhealthy relationships and a heavy part-time work load all contributed to my suffering.

My plan since seeking treatment is to take a break on my education for now. I know that if I continue taking classes and am not completely back on the right track that I will continue to suffer and jeopardize my studies. I am seeking counselling and plan to do so until my studies are finished. I am currently in a healthy living environment surrounded with support and those who understand the past year and the obstacles I experienced. Once I resume my studies, I plan to take both online and on campus courses. I believe my anxiety, which is triggered when I enter campus, will be easier to handle due to my healthier state of mind. I will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Honours with a focus in Political Science. If I am able to finish my degree at my pace, and within my comfort zone I ultimately believe I will succeed and this will act as a great lesson for myself in all spheres of my life. I have struggled and experienced pain but I have conquered and plan to finish my education with Queen¿¿s University.

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Arts and Science,
I am appealing to drop FILM 240, PHYS P20, HIST 280, and WRIT 125 from my transcript records. These courses were taken through the Fall 2014 session of my academic year.
During the academic session of Fall 2014, I unfortunately found myself still dealing with extenuating circumstances that I had difficulty controlling. The time frame of these events began in Fall 2013 and still effect my academics to this day. The beginning of 2013 I found myself dealing with grief of a lost uncle, as well as issues within my student housing that ultimately caused me to move out and back to my parents in late February of 2013. At this time I had been battling depression and anxiety that had only been treated a few years before but had since ignored.
With this came a loss of relationships with those around me, and lack of motivation to prosper and continue my studies. Entering Queen¿¿s I had a drive to do well and had a somewhat clear idea of where I would find myself in my last year of studies. I believe due to my lack of education and experience with handling my troubles with my mental health, I created a barrier from my friends and family and found it easier to run from my problems and disregard my future.
My transcript reads how my mental health began to suffer, in that I had once been an average student, but lack of communication with peers in my lecture and more classes skipped ultimately caused me to lose track and struggle with my studies. I had never before reached out to anyone, and although I was aware that many resources are out there to help me get on track, I still found myself lost. I began to get upset and mad about how I was handling my struggles with life and my education, and my mental state had me in a frame of mind where temporary happiness was best and to ignore any of my problems head on.
Not until this fall term of 2014 was I able to reach out. I moved out of my student apartment and back with my parents due to the stability they offered. Within my 2013-2014 studies I had seen a few different health care professionals, about my mental state it was not until my parents recommended myself to my family doctor and I was soon put on anti-depressants. This was the best move for me at the time, for it brought light to both my family and my family doctor and my true issues and struggles would come to surface and be worked on. I understood at this time that my mental health the year before greatly affected my studies. My inability to balance lectures, readings, and school work with all obstacles occurring outside my studies really had me flustered.
This imbalance caused me to get angry and disregard my future. I stopped thinking ahead or thinking constructively in general. I found myself staying busy by working more than thirty hours a week and doing minimal work. This was not due to my lack of appreciation for my education but instead was caused by my lack of motivation. I stopped believing in myself, and choose to instead believe that I was only going to continue to fail. I choose to then do all my classes online. I felt this was a better option as I would not have to step foot on campus and my anxiety levels would remain at a minimum. I also planned to change my degree to a Bachelor of Arts, without honours, thus allowing me to finish my degree sooner. What I thought would be constructive and easier for me proved to be more difficult. I did not have a drive to do well in my studies, with no push from professors as well as no feeling of being part of a class, due to correspondence. I was not being challenged like I was used to, and thus my marks continued to drop. I thought at the time this was the best option for me, to continue my studies online but ultimately I was not ready to take any classes. I should have took a break from my studies and put them on pause so I could start really taking care of myself and finding a solution to my struggle with mental illness.
My plan for my future with Queen¿¿s, is to pause my education for now. I wish to take a small work load this coming Fall 2015, and will therefore finish my degree at my pace. I feel a lot better about myself right now, as I did not go through with my winter term of this year. I continue to see my doctor about my mental state and keep my family involved. I believe that this break will be extremely important for my future education and will better me as a Queen¿¿s student as well as a citizen within society.
Thank you,
Hillary Kerr