Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean,

I would like to drop CISC 251 from my Fall 2021 transcript. I initially believed I??d be able to pass this course, which is why I did not drop it by the official deadline, but I was met with some difficult and unexpected circumstances.

Around the first week of November, my grandmother suffered a series of mini-strokes followed by a bigger one. This had profound effects on her and our family. I will break down my personal hardships into 2 parts:


Physical

Approximately on November 9th-10th, I drove back home to Milton from Kingston. I am the only one in my immediate family with a driver??s license so I was responsible for taking my grandmother to and from hospitals, clinics, etc. She required many visits to hospitals, undergo lots of testing and constantly be checked up on as she was at risk for another stroke. Following my first visit, I began going back to Milton every week, sometimes twice a week. This constant back-and-forth travelling (4 hours one way) was extremely fatiguing and led to me missing in-person classes. This proved especially detrimental for CISC 251 as the course project required students to use a software, ??KNIME?, that was only explained through demonstrations during in-person lectures. Furthermore, these demonstrations were not uploaded to onQ.


Mental

Prior to this incident, my grandmother was energetic, jolly and full of life. Her personality drastically changed afterwards - she was in a constant state of panic, extremely lethargic and very emotional. She could not come to terms with what had happened to her and would regularly cry and say things like ??my brain isn??t working?. I can??t put into words how heartbreaking it was to see her like this. She had been a pillar of support and strength throughout my life. Furthermore, I also had to be there for my mother, who was more shaken than anybody. My mind couldn??t have been further from my academics and I even considered dropping out for the rest of the term.


Regarding my tardiness in submitting this appeal, I was unable to collect supporting documentation until a few days ago. I hope that is a sufficient outline addressing my circumstances and request to drop CISC 251.

Ahsan
20109054