Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

My name is Jiatong Dai and my student number is 20103827. I am appealing to drop FILM 339 (Summer, 2021), FILM 455 (Fall, 2021) and extension or aegrotat standing for Film218 (Winter, 2021)

Last year because of the epidemic, I did not go back to Canada to continue my studies, but my boyfriend is in Canada. So, I went through a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend, whom I had been dating for almost three years. During this time, we encountered many unsolvable problems and eventually broke up last summer. This incident had a huge impact on me, and it felt like my world was falling apart. Coupled with my father doesn't understand me, he keeps putting pressure on me and insists not letting me go back to Canada to study the next year (2021 Fall-2022 Winter), I also had a lot of quarrels with my father. This caused me to be in a bad mood during that time, crying a lot and sleeping poorly. I don't know what I should do, I feel like my world is a mess and no one truly likes me at that time. Later, at the suggestion of my friends and mother, I underwent psychotherapy and was diagnosed with moderate depression and anxiety. This symptom started at the beginning of July 2021 and was diagnosed on August 2, 2021. The follow-up treatment and recovery time lasted about a year. During this time my condition has been recurring. Under the follow-up treatments of psychiatrist Zhian, as well as the company of my mother, I feel much better this year's summer vacation and was diagnosed with mild depression on August 7, 2022. After this treatment, psychiatrist Zhian told me to pay more attention to rest, and I can study normally now.

At that time, I had a very difficult time falling asleep, and in severe cases, I would often have sleepless nights. There are so many things in my head and I can't stop thinking about them so my concentration is very poor and there is also a marked decline in my memory. I don't have any social desires or the motivation to do anything. I often stayed in bed crying all day, not wanting to do anything. I also had a poor appetite, so my physical condition was not good at the time. I was also conducting an internship program at that time. I explained my situation to the leader, he understood my situation. He gave me a period of vacation without salary and allow me to work at home after the vacation. At the same time, the leader found another intern who can help me finish the work and arranged work for me as appropriate. So, I had almost no job during the first 4 months only need to attend online meetings every week and had no salary. After that, I gradually returned to work when things got better, which allow me to finish this internship successfully. However, mental illness had a huge impact on my studies, and there was no way for me to carry out normal learning behaviours.

The course of FILM 218 was applied for IN at that time due to technical reasons and was postponed to August of the summer vacation. However, due to my mental health illness, the submission of the remaining assignments was not completed. I have completed most of the assignments before this and got a C+ for the final grade. I have completed the remaining assignments now, and I also sent an email to the Professor Dan. But this fall term Professor Dan is away on medical leave. Is it possible to change my grade to an IN and have someone help grade my assignments? If that is not possible, is it ok for me to apply an aegrotat standing for this course? I am so sorry for the trouble.

I did summer school courses in May, because my situation is fine at that time, so I finished them normally. But FILM 339 was in July, at the stage of my illness and just broke up with my boyfriend. I was unable to extricate myself from sadness at the time. I kept crying and didn't have any energy to deal with my study, so I didn't drop or finish the course in time. After this, my condition kept coming back and forth.

After my first meeting with psychiatrist Zhian, I didn't know enough about my condition. I thought my condition was enough to take a class and I didn't want it to affect my studies too much, so I enrolled in FILM 455. But my condition was worse than I thought. My condition didn't get better after the first treatment, it got worse. After a few classes, I got caught up in the whirlpool again. I didn't have the energy to do anything at the time, I was constantly avoiding everything, anxious about unfinished lessons but having no motivation to change. I've been trying to cheer myself up to study, but I'm constantly being replaced by negative thoughts. So I didn't drop the class at the time and I didn't finish it either. I was unable to make correct judgments and actions at the time, I didn't have the energy to deal with my unfinished studies, and I didn't know when I would recover, so I didn't appeal in time. After this summer got better, I think I can do my studies normally and my psychiatrist also thinks I can go back to school, so now I want to appeal the courses I took during my sickness time.

In the follow-up study process, I will monitor my situation from time to time. In addition, I have weekly online meetings with a Chinese psychiatrist recommended by psychiatrist Zhian to ensure the normal progress of my studies. If I find that my condition is not good I will immediately contact the school's mental health department for face-to-face communication. I still have 27 credits to meet the graduation requirements. Thus, this semester I took 4 courses and didn't schedule any other work to make sure I had enough time to do my assignments, and I have retaken FILM 339 this semester. As time goes on, my mental situation will gradually improve. Therefore, I arranged the remaining 5 courses in the winter to allow me to graduate successfully.

I am so sorry for all the troubles, and I really hope to be able to reduce the impact on my studies during my illness and get everything back on track. Looking forward to your reply

Sincerely,
Jiatong.