Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Director (Academic),


I am writing this letter to explain my insufficient participation this fall term at Queen??s University, with hopes to disregard my courses (FREN106, PHGY215, MICR271) or have them be incomplete for the following term. I originally believed that I was able to continue my studies not realizing the seriousness of my circumstances and by that time, it was too late to drop the courses. Since then, I have been seeking guidance from my advisor and this was the best outcome. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to explain my circumstances.

Throughout the semester, I have been going through some hardships that affected my mental capacity, motivation, and concentration that ultimately made my grades suffer as a result. I am in no way excusing myself for the poor academic performance, but I would like to explain the circumstances. In the beginning of the semester, everything was going up to date and normal until I received a medical note, on September 24th, stating that I have contracted HPV and needed to go in to get testing done for the sake of my health. On October 10th, I went in, and they told me that I needed to get a few biopsies and a colposcopy done because there was a chance, I could have cervical cancer.

Finding out that there was a possibility that I could have cervical cancer due to the human papilloma virus absolutely terrified me. I knew that HPV was quite common in women now a days but not that it was the main cause of developing cervical cancer. After waiting about two weeks for my lab results, the oncologist informed me that I had high grade CIN3 cells that would need a procedure with chemotherapy in order to try and remove these cells, leading to the medical leave. My LEEP procedure was on November 7th and have been recovering to date. Since October 10th, my stress and mental health levels were extremely high as I did not truly know what to think of it all or what to tell my parents and partner. There is a chance I may have difficulties having children and a chance of the abnormal cells coming back in the future. I became very depressed/anxious and lost all motivations to continue on, the stress became a lot to handle.

I was not necessarily surprised, but very disappointed to hear from my academic advisor and oncologist informing me that a medical leave of absence would be the best outcome for me this term because I truly did want to succeed this year and prove to myself than I am worth it to finish the semester, but it became difficult handling it on my own. Trying to focus on my studies and health became too much to cope with in such a short period of time but does not mean I do not have the capacity to try again and succeed.

I love Queen??s University, and everything it has to offer, and it would mean so much to me to graduate with a degree from this school, especially since I am the first in my family to ever attend university. My oncologist and family practitioner stated that I should be able to return to my studies in the winter term with much more hope. Therefore, If I am given the chance to re-take without penalty or continue my courses in the following term, I promise to focus better on my schoolwork, take all precautions, seek my advisor weekly, and will follow her advice throughout the semester. I feel it in my heart that the year 2023 will be filled with hope and desire to improve overall, if given the chance. I would be internally grateful.
Thank you for your time and consideration,

Stephanie Dager
20247455