Petition Letter
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
To the Associate Dean and whom it may concern,
I am writing this appeal letter because I have been dealing with an illness that put a huge toll on my academic career over the course of several years, but most prominently this past year from 2013 to 2014. I have been struggling with mental health issues for several years now, but this past year was the most difficult for me because my health was never appropriately dealt with and it only got worse. I did see several counsellors on campus but did not consistently get help. There were extenuating circumstances as well within my family that have been ongoing for years that added to my struggles. My own health issues and problems within my family (such as one of my parent's own illnesses and the other parent's ongoing divorce) made it very difficult for me to attend my classes, and there were days where I did not leave my room. Having a worsening psychological illness that I was not fully aware of made it difficult for me to cope with simple day-to-day tasks, and much harder to deal with things that were part of every day life for other students like meeting course requirements, going to class, completing assignments and studying for mid-terms and exams. It has been difficult for me to accept that I did so poorly as a student over the past few years and that it had taken a backseat to my other issues.
I visited a counsellor at Queen's toward the end of 2013 for a last time, but my problems snowballed and I had to be hospitalized in Kingston General Hospital for several weeks a few days after reading week ended, and then hospitalized again in Toronto at North York General Hospital for a month and a half at the beginning of April until the middle of May. This made it impossible to study during this time ¿¿ and of course- attend my classes.
I am writing this letter to request that the following courses be dropped from my transcript from this year:
¿ENGL 237 Children's Literature (2013 Fall); ENGL 200 History of Literature in English (F/W 2013-2014); ENGL 258 (Jacobean Shakespeare 2014 Winter); ENGL 277 Literature and Gender Studies (2014 Winter).
If I could get these courses dropped I would very much appreciate it. I am planning on going on Academic Hiatus and taking a year off to heal and get myself back on my feet. After that I would like to transfer to a school in Toronto ¿¿ perhaps Ryerson- to complete my studies. Having these courses removed from my transcript would boost my GPA so that I could be accepted at another school in my home city. I am no longer able to study in Kingston as I am receiving help here and it will be ongoing. I truly regret not having been able to take advantage of the great classes that I had been registered in, and if I could do it all over again I would have gotten help sooner so that I would have gotten to fully experience Queen's University. Please consider my appeal, I would really like to have another chance at University in the future.
Thank you,
Samantha Zurin
To the Associate Dean and whom it may concern,
I am writing this appeal letter because I have been dealing with an illness that put a huge toll on my academic career over the course of several years, but most prominently this past year from 2013 to 2014. I have been struggling with mental health issues for several years now, but this past year was the most difficult for me because my health was never appropriately dealt with and it only got worse. I did see several counsellors on campus but did not consistently get help. There were extenuating circumstances as well within my family that have been ongoing for years that added to my struggles. My own health issues and problems within my family (such as one of my parent's own illnesses and the other parent's ongoing divorce) made it very difficult for me to attend my classes, and there were days where I did not leave my room. Having a worsening psychological illness that I was not fully aware of made it difficult for me to cope with simple day-to-day tasks, and much harder to deal with things that were part of every day life for other students like meeting course requirements, going to class, completing assignments and studying for mid-terms and exams. It has been difficult for me to accept that I did so poorly as a student over the past few years and that it had taken a backseat to my other issues.
I visited a counsellor at Queen's toward the end of 2013 for a last time, but my problems snowballed and I had to be hospitalized in Kingston General Hospital for several weeks a few days after reading week ended, and then hospitalized again in Toronto at North York General Hospital for a month and a half at the beginning of April until the middle of May. This made it impossible to study during this time ¿¿ and of course- attend my classes.
I am writing this letter to request that the following courses be dropped from my transcript from this year:
¿ENGL 237 Children's Literature (2013 Fall); ENGL 200 History of Literature in English (F/W 2013-2014); ENGL 258 (Jacobean Shakespeare 2014 Winter); ENGL 277 Literature and Gender Studies (2014 Winter).
If I could get these courses dropped I would very much appreciate it. I am planning on going on Academic Hiatus and taking a year off to heal and get myself back on my feet. After that I would like to transfer to a school in Toronto ¿¿ perhaps Ryerson- to complete my studies. Having these courses removed from my transcript would boost my GPA so that I could be accepted at another school in my home city. I am no longer able to study in Kingston as I am receiving help here and it will be ongoing. I truly regret not having been able to take advantage of the great classes that I had been registered in, and if I could do it all over again I would have gotten help sooner so that I would have gotten to fully experience Queen's University. Please consider my appeal, I would really like to have another chance at University in the future.
Thank you,
Samantha Zurin