Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am writing this letter of appeal to request a further extension on my time to complete ENSC 301 (Fall, 2021) due to extenuating circumstances I faced during the Fall 2021 and Winter 2022 terms that were beyond my control. Despite my best efforts to complete ENSC 301 by the end of the Winter 2022 term, extenuating circumstances have prevented me from finishing my remaining coursework by the April 30th deadline.

Below is a timeline of my extenuating circumstances and how they impacted me academically.

- Fall, 2021: Challenges adjusting back into in-person learning as a person with a disability, facing extreme stress as a new Residence Don, enduring mental health challenges coupled with burnout, resulting in a request for an incomplete grade in ENSC 301.

Last year, during the 2020-2021 school year, all my courses were online. As a direct result, many of the academic barriers I had previously encountered as a person with a disability were removed by online learning, and my courses were much more accessible than they had been in previous years. Due to my disability, I experience difficulties with processing information, particularly when information is presented in an audio/video format. Thus, online learning removed barriers to accessibility by allowing me to rewatch lectures, watch videos with closed captions, and listen to lectures at slower speeds. Consequently, the return to in-person learning in the Fall 2021 term was extremely challenging, as it inherently reintroduced these learning barriers, making my classes much less accessible to me. This was particularly the case for ENSC 301, which had one three-hour lecture per week, during which we would watch long movies or documentaries, usually over two hours in length, without closed captions. Despite attending every ENSC 301 lecture, sitting in the front row, and engaging with the course content during and after lectures by asking questions, I was frequently unable to retain any information presented in class, due to my challenges processing audio/video information. As a result, after lectures, I would spend 6 hours every week re-watching the presented movies and documentaries, as well as going over course notes. Altogether, I spent over 9-10 hours every week just trying to keep up with the course content alone, which resulted in my inability to complete the written ENSC assignments during the Fall term.

While I did have significant difficulties completing the coursework for ENSC, this was not the case for my other classes, which I was able to successfully finish on time without the need for an incomplete grade. This was because my five other courses were much more accessible to me, with four of them being online and one being in-person (without relying on movies and videos for course delivery). These factors enabled me to effectively process course content and thus, ensured I continuously stayed on top of the course work throughout the term.

Besides the challenges of adjusting back to in-person learning, I was also experiencing extreme stress as a new Residence Don in Watts Hall, where I was responsible for supporting 37 first-year students. In particular, one of my first-year students, Kathryn Stewart, had a chronic illness; she had been facing stage 4 cancer (neuroblastoma) for 13 years. As Kathryn??s don, I worked very closely with her to support her during her transition into university, developing a very close bond with her in the process. I supported Kathryn through the everyday challenges that most first-year students face, such as loneliness and difficulty making friends, but also through more unique issues related to her cancer diagnosis, such as mobility and accessibility issues, as well as serious high-stress overnight medical emergencies. Supporting Kathryn in such a close capacity as a new Residence Don was incredibly stressful. However, this stress was exacerbated by the lack of a supervisor's support, as my direct Residence Life supervisor left his position before the Fall term had even begun (on August 31st), and I was not assigned a new supervisor until December. The resulting stress and anxiety I experienced as a new Residence Don further contributed to feelings of burnout and prevented me from finishing my ENSC written assignments.

Overall, the combination of adjusting back into in-person learning stacked with enduring extreme stress as a new Residence Don resulted in significant mental health challenges and burnout, leading me to request an incomplete grade in ENSC 301.

- January 2022 to February 28th, 2022: Studying from home, learning about my grandmother??s worsening health, and experiencing worsening stress, and anxiety.

In January 2022, after Dr. Whitelaw graciously agreed to grant my request for an incomplete grade, I developed a plan for completing ENSC 301 during the Winter semester. I got an ENSC 301 tutor and aimed to finish the course by the end of March, with the goal of submitting one assignment per month.

During the first two weeks of the winter term, I was able to make significant progress, finishing 85% of the first ENSC assignment. However, everything plummeted in mid-January, when I learned that my maternal grandmother??s health was deteriorating due to her chronic kidney disease. My grandmother was experiencing difficulty breathing, chest pain, delirium, low oxygen levels, and blood clots in her lungs. Due to these circumstances, my grandmother required frequent and lengthy hospital stays in the ICU, an oxygen tank, and regular dialysis.

With my mom being the oldest sibling in her family, she would often receive dozens of calls about urgent updates regarding my grandmother??s health from 1 am to 5 am due to the 8-hour time difference. We would both be awakened anxiously by countless phone calls in the middle of the night, worried that my grandmother??s condition had worsened.

I was also my mom??s only source of emotional support during this time. During the two months when my grandmother was sick, my mom would be crying all the time, unable to eat, and experiencing significant stress. She would also share many of her stresses and worries about my grandmother??s health with me. The difficulty of coping with my mother's physical and mental state, coupled with constantly hearing about my grandmother's deteriorating health, tremendously affected my own well-being, causing significant distress and negatively impacting my academics. Due to the significant stress and anxiety, I was unable to complete ENSC assignment 1 and assignment 2 by the end of February as I originally planned, and began to fall behind in my winter term courses as well.
As a result of these circumstances, I met with Student Academic Success Services (SASS) Learning Strategists frequently throughout January and February to discuss my worries about falling behind. After several SASS meetings, I developed a new strategy to get back on track. I decided that I would drop my most challenging course, MICR 221, and only take four courses during the Winter term. While this would ultimately delay my graduation by one term, dropping MICR would free 10-15 hours every week that I could dedicate to catching up in my other four winter term classes. In addition, since MICR 221 was my only winter term course with an exam, dropping it would allow me to use all of exam period (April 9th to April 30th) working on my ENSC assignments. I planned on giving myself one entire week to complete each ENSC assignment during exam period, which would leave me with more than enough time to finish the course by the April 30th deadline.

- March 1st, 2022 to Present: Re-adjusting back into in-person learning after 6 weeks of online learning, experiencing severe burnout and depressive symptoms, significantly reduced academic capacity.

In March, I was faced with readjusting to in-person learning for a second time, which was very taxing. Most of all, the stress, anxiety, and burnout that I experienced throughout the year eventually caught up with me, resulting in severe depression. Despite reaching for support from regular mental health therapy, occupational therapy, SASS, and Queen??s Accessibility Services, my productivity reduced dramatically; I went from being able to easily complete 8-9 hours of work every day to only being able to complete 1-2 hours, at most, on a good day. Due to this, my academic capacity was seriously impacted, and I could not keep up with any of my winter term classes or ENSC assignments. I tried every strategy I could think of to improve my productivity, from going to Stauffer library every day for two weeks, to studying with friends in university buildings, going to cafes, and even working in bed. The only thing I wanted to do was complete my schoolwork, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing worked. I felt tremendous frustration, shame, and disappointment towards myself, and overall, just immensely powerless.

Due to the circumstances above, I received documentation from my counsellor supporting a request for academic consideration from March 8th to May 31st, and as a result, I have received extensions in all my winter term courses.

- April 3, 2022 to Present: Facing significant grief due to the death of my student, Kathryn Stewart, and my grandmother.

On April 3rd, 2022, I found out that my student, Kathryn Stewart, had died of cancer. Soon after, on April 8th, I learned that my grandmother passed away in the ICU due to a cardiac arrest. This devastating and heart-wrenching news ignited overwhelming feelings of grief, worsening my depression and burnout.

- April 9th, 2022 to Present: Trying to work on the ENSC assignments during exam period, as I had planned.

Despite working on the ENSC assignments during exam period, as I had originally planned, I have made little progress over the last three weeks due to only being able to complete 1-2 hours of work per day and having to divide my limited time between completing late assignments in my winter term classes. In spite of my sincere desire to finish the ENSC work by the end of the winter term, as a result of the overload of coursework missed this semester and my reduced academic capacity, this goal became unattainable. As much as I would prefer to finish the coursework by the agreed-upon April 30th deadline, I realize now that this goal is not within my reach based on the challenges outlined above.

I have reached out to Dr. Whitelaw who has indicated support for my appeal, and I am hoping to extend the deadline for my ENSC 301 coursework until August 31st.

- April 30th to Present: Next Steps.

I would deeply appreciate having a further extension for my ENSC coursework. I have already noticed improvements in my capacity since moving back home to Toronto. Having the support of my family has been crucial in improving my mental health and coping with grief. In particular, over the past week, my productivity has already increased to 4-5 hours per day, and over the past three days, I have been completing 6-8 hours of schoolwork each day. In addition, I have completed 85% of ENSC assignment 1, and have created outlines for assignments 2 and 3. Thus, I am familiar with the topics that I will be discussing in my remaining assignments, and have been consulting with Dr. Whitelaw regularly throughout the fall and winter terms, receiving his feedback and support regarding my essay outlines and ideas. Furthermore, if my appeal is granted, I have a feasible timeline for submitting my remaining ENSC assignments, which is supported by Dr. Whitelaw. If my appeal is successful, I plan to submit assignment 1 by Friday, May 27th, assignment 2 by Friday, July 8th, and assignment 3 by Friday, August 19th. As well, when working on my assignments throughout the summer, I plan to consult resources that can support me with completing the course, such as the SASS Writing Centre and my ENSC 301 tutor. With my productivity increasing so drastically since returning home, the progress I have made in the course so far, and the timelines and supports I have in place, I have full confidence that my academic capacity will continue to improve and remain stable over the summer, ensuring that I will successfully complete the course by August.

Because I have already dedicated 150 hours (approximately 120 hours from the fall term, and 30 hours in the winter term) towards completing ENSC 301, I do not want to drop the course. I have dedicated so much time, effort, and money towards trying to succeed in the class, from attending all lectures in the front row, going to office hours regularly, asking questions and being engaged with the course content during and after class, rewatching all the course movies and documentaries, seeking extra support from a tutor, meeting with Dr. Whitelaw during the fall and winter semesters, and consulting SASS Learning Strategists. I do not want all my hard work, determination, and resilience toward achieving success in ENSC to go to waste. In addition, dropping the course would further delay my graduation, would generate financial hardship (as I would have to pay to take another university class), and would require a larger time commitment than if I were to finish ENSC 301. It is really important to me to succeed in this class, and for these reasons, I would greatly appreciate having a further extension to complete my ENSC 301 coursework into the summer.
Regarding my next steps in the bigger scheme of things, I have decided to postpone my plans of pursuing graduate school immediately after undergrad, despite receiving acceptances from my top three Master??s programs. Instead, I will be taking a year off to prioritize my mental health and recover from the burnout, depression, and grief I have endured this year. Furthermore, during this time off, I am also planning on seeking a psychoeducational assessment. A psychoeducational assessment will be the first step in helping me find more individualized supports, therapies, and strategies that I can use in the future to prevent this intensity of burnout and depression from occurring again.

I hope that you understand my ongoing extenuating circumstances which have caused my severe mental health challenges, preventing me from completing ENSC 301 by the April 30th deadline.

Attached to this letter, I have included supporting documentation including a letter of support from a Student Wellness Services counsellor (Pamela Hall) and my private mental health counsellor (Marla Schreiber), Kathryn Stewart??s obituary notice, email correspondences with my professors regarding my extenuating circumstances, and appointment confirmations with Student Wellness Services. If you have any questions regarding my documentation or explanations of the extenuating circumstances that I presented in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me at any given time.

With gratitude for your time and consideration,
Sarah Bahreinian