Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom this may concern,

I am applying to have an appeal to drop the course GNDS 280 in this winter term (2015). I recently have struggled with anxiety and this has been heavily enforced by academics as well as family issues. First semester of this year I started in feeling this way and was completely emotionally drained with the stress of school and the stresses that came from my sister¿¿s cancer treatment and being there for her. At that time I dropped a course to lighten my course load and only take the courses that were mandatory for my major. After I did this I realized it was a great decision for me, I started going to regular sessions to talk about things going on and I truly am not one to ask for help and often try to figure things out on my own. As second semester came I began to feel worse, I was thinking that since I felt better in some regards first semester that I could proceed into second semester with a full course load. Evidentially I was wrong, I started off by taking 5 courses this semester and instantly felt overwhelmed, I dropped a course right away and thought I could handle the rest. I am now realizing that with the recent family issues that have been uncovered, that I can¿¿t handle taking these courses at this time. I have chosen GNDS 280 to drop because it is the one that I find least a like to my major. In this course particularly I have felt a lot of stress from the professor and the layout of the course is extremely disorganized and this is not beneficial for the anxiety that I am feeling. Recently my grandfather has not been doing well and I have had to go home often, this results in me going off pace and routine creating more stress on myself. Recently my best friend, to whom I share a home with, has dropped out of school and was diagnosed with extreme depression, this has also had great affects on my academic performance and created a great deal of stress and anxiety on me as well. I have stopped numerous times to think about taking a semester off but I keep pushing myself with the semester in the hopes that the stress put on me by other individuals and school itself will get better. I have talked a lot with my parents and with a councilor I have talked about these extenuating circumstances with, and they all agree that dropping one more course in order to limit stress is a great approach to helping the problems I am having. I often find it difficult to feel motivated when I feel a great deal of anxiety and this has been a great struggle for me. I have the least amount of motivation towards GNDS 280 because it provides the most amount of stress for me. I reached out to the professor (as well as a professor from another class I would miss on this day), a few weeks ago to tell him that I was having a difficult time and that my grandfather was not doing well and asked if I could be excused from class without academic (attendance) penalty for a class I was missing to go see him given the circumstances. Instead of allowing this and taking off stress, I expressed to him I was having, he told me I needed to provide ¿¿proof¿ of this and did not say I was going to be excused without penalty causing more stress on me. In comparison to my other professor, who was extremely supportive and really helped me in the situation. The anxiety I feel is something I have struggled with for a very long time but never to the extent to which I am feeling it and the way it affects my school work and performance in school. When I realized this I got help and I am hoping it will start to get better soon, in the mean time I am trying to push myself to do well in the courses that are mandatory for my area of studies that interest me and allowing my interest in the course to hopefully help with the anxiety I feel. Dropping one more course will make it much easier for me to carryout what I need to do and focus on getting my mental health back on track. Thank you very much for reading my appeal and helping me in this tough time in my life.

Sincerely,

Alicia Hibberd