Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean Dr. Jenn Stephenson:

I am appealing the faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queen's University for a year, to drop the courses I have failed from my transcript (PHYS 117, CHEM 112, and MATH 121), and to get credit standing for BIOL 103.

While I have had a history of mental illness throughout my life, I have never let that interfere with my academic success. I have always been an honour roll student in high school; my academics have always been, and continue to be incredibly important to me. In contrast, in March and April of 2022, I had a significant relapse. My mental state was the worst it had ever been in my life, and my studies slipped through the cracks. My depression was to the point where I could not take care of myself. There were periods when I couldn't leave my bed; I couldn't eat or sleep, while other times, I couldn't keep myself awake regardless of how hard I tried. Even when I could get myself to go to lectures or start assignments, it was to the point where I could not even focus the majority of the time, and retaining information from my classes was very difficult.

Despite it all, I was still trying my hardest to put in as much effort as I could muster into my courses, finishing what I could get done. But as the semester went on and my life continued on a downwards spiral, it became evident that was not going to be enough. Tests and quizzes were increasingly more difficult; I often felt I didn't have enough time to answer all the questions. Having assignments and deadlines for so many courses would overwhelm me; I would not be able to complete them all.

I recognize that at this point I should have communicated with my professors instead of leaving them in the dark about my situation. While I understood that I needed medical help with my problem, I thought this would be like high school, where I didn't need help with the impacts of my illness on my courses. Although, getting medical help was increasingly difficult for me at the time. The ideal plan was to go back to my doctor in my hometown to go back on my medications and seek a counsellor through the school. As it turns out, that would be easier said than done. It was gruelling for me to find an appointment time with my doctor where I could go back to my hometown that was a few hours away from campus, as well as time to go back up every week for a month to monitor any adverse effects of the medications. I was struggling to get in touch with a wellness counsellor, my best friend and I were both trying to get me an appointment with a counsellor, but they were seemingly always booked due to the heavy traffic of students needing their services.

Now that I am back home, things have been much better. I have been able to reinstate many of the support systems I would typically have. I am back on my medications and will be indefinite; I am looking for a therapist locally; in the meantime I am setting up meetings with a wellness counsellor through Queen's. In addition, I am taking summer courses in a different field than science. I have found that I am much more passionate about these courses; they come

I hope that this letter helps clear up any information about what went wrong with these courses. I have the capability to excel here at Queen's; this period of my life did not accurately reflect who I am as a student. Hopefully, you will give me a chance to show that by reinstating me. Thank you for taking my appeal into consideration, and allowing me to explain my circumstances.


Sincerely,

Madison Bouchard.