Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dr. Jenn Stephenson, Associate Dean (Academic),

My name is Olivia Roland, and I am a first year Arts and Science student appealing to drop the course HIST 110 (winter, 2022).

Circumstances and Timeline:
The nature of this request is due to extenuating circumstances of COVID-19 as well as the death of a close family friend. Unfortunately, I was infected with COVID-19 over Reading Week and was severely sick for 2 weeks with extreme symptoms. I have asthma and the infection went to my chest. I was bedridden for several days, unable to complete or keep up with any schoolwork.

My symptoms started on February 26 while I was at home. I tested negative three times and decided to return to my residence on February 28, where I promptly tested positive. For the next three nights I was isolating in residence, but I was so sick that I had to be picked up by my parents and taken back home to recover. I was home from March 3 to March 6. I am still experiencing some side effects of COVID-19, which have made catching up in all my classwork extremely difficult.

Further, during the time I was home recovering, the father of one of my oldest friends took his own life out of the blue. I ended up staying at home for even longer to deal with this and to help console the family.

Missed Deadline to Drop the Course:
I missed the March 4th deadline to drop this course because I was totally concentrating on trying to recover from COVID-19 and was blindsided by the tragedy of the death of my friend's father and was not focused on whether I was going to be able to catch up on all the course work I was missing until after I returned to Kingston on March 7th. Once I was back at school and focused on what was ahead of me, I realised that I really am unable to finish this course as I physically and mentally cannot catch up on the work required for this course as well as all my other courses. I am applying to drop HIST 110 as my other courses are required for my major next year. I also know that with one course dropped I will be able to catch up and excel in my remaining courses.

Future Plan:
My future plan if this appeal is accepted is to focus on my other courses to ensure I can do well and understand the material, so that I will have a successful academic future. I am taking a course this summer, PSYC 100, which will make up for the course I am dropping, so I will not have to take an extra course next year.

Thank you for your consideration,

Sincerely,
Olivia Roland