Petition Letter
To whom is may concern,
My name is Cassidy Domenico and I am a fifth-year student in the faculty of Arts and Sciences aiming to graduate with a BScH in Biology this June. Today I write to you with the intent of explaining why I wish to receive permission to late drop three courses (BIOL 527, IDIS 373 and ENSC 230) which I took over the Winter 2025 semester. I hope to have this petition reviewed due to extenuating circumstances that prevented me from dropping the courses within the regular deadline.
To begin, I would like to provide the context of what I was navigating during the period that I was taking the courses I wish to have dropped. While academic anxiety was not something entirely new to me, at the beginning of 2025 it reached an extreme that I had never faced before. While still attending all my lectures and seminars, spending hours at the library or my desk in front of my computer and overall putting on a convincing front that all was well, below the surface I was fighting an unrelenting mental battle against myself to be able to complete any schoolwork. I experienced what I can only describe as productivity paralysis, extreme indecision and a constant negative downwards emotional spiral about my ability to participate in academics at the level and standard I knew I could. There were several assignments that, despite sitting in front of a blank document for hours, I could not even begin to work on, let alone complete or submit. It was incredibly frustrating and quite frankly heartbreaking how stuck I constantly felt. My brain simply would not let me go through with any work no matter how much I rationally knew it would be better to submit ANYTHING and receive a poor mark than nothing and get a zero. The nerves associated with starting or working on an assignment far overpowered the idea of relief that I knew I would get if I eventually completed that work. It was debilitating. Ultimately, the lack of submitted assignments made me unable to obtain enough marks to pass three of the four courses I took that semester (Winter 2025).
Hearing my peers express their own stresses around school had me telling myself that what I was experiencing was normal academic angst and that I deserved to be struggling the way I was because I clearly just couldn’t handle the pressure of nearing the end of my degree. With hindsight, I now know that the reality was that I was in deep denial about how academically burnt out I was to the point that I had created an incredibly convoluted relationship with my academics and was self-sabotaging any chance I had at success. As the term went on and I slowly started to open my eyes to this reality, instead of reaching out to professors to explain myself and ask for extensions or their recommendations for how to proceed, I instead convinced myself that I was past a point of no return. I believed things regarding my grades could not be salvaged and so I must make up for my academic shortcomings by pouring all my time into other commitments. I adopted the mindset that if I continued to excel in other areas (like maintaining my relationships, contributing to my community through youth outreach initiatives or encouraging the success of others through my position as an ASUS mentor for a first-year student) I would be able to balance out the troubles I was having in my courses by creating positivity in these spaces. Eventually, this too became unsustainable. And as the negativity from my academic mental block started to seep into other aspects of my life, I realized I desperately needed to seek external help.
I began by confessing how much I had been struggling to my parents and they immediately encouraged me to remove some pressure by not aiming to graduate in 2025 and to start seeing a mental health professional. My family and my therapist taking my situation seriously made me more aware that what I was dealing with was not the experience of the average person and that I had a lot of work to do to return to a ‘normal’ and competent student from these circumstances. It was not until the term was already complete that I reached this stage of acceptance and was able to find the courage and willpower to reach out to my professors and explain myself. I am so appreciative to the educators at this institution as they expressed their sympathies for what I was dealing with. In fact, it was a professor who first suggested I apply for this late course drop option as they believed I would be a good candidate for it. Over the past many months my progress has not been linear, and I am still struggling to face some of the anxieties I have and overcome the habits I developed over that period of high internal conflict. That being said, I would like to highlight some things that evidently show how my mental state has improved since that semester, allowing me to demonstrate my academic potential in a form that is much truer to the student and person that I am and have worked hard to become in my past five years at Queen’s. Since the Winter 2025 semester, I have completed five courses at Queen’s and am currently taking a sixth. My GPA during Winter 2025 from was a 0.75. Over the Fall 2025 semester, I achieved a term GPA of 3.68, which I believe is my highest term GPA to date. The time that I have spent rebuilding and defining my relationship with academics was integral to making this incredibly drastic improvement happen, but the stark difference in grades is also a testament to how unusual my performance was that one semester. Additionally, during the past two semesters (Fall 2025 and Winter 2026), I have handed in all but two very small assignments that were worth 2% each because I was ill or chose to prioritize other, more heavily weighted assessments. Over the Winter 2025 term, there were multiple classes where I handed in less than 50% of the coursework, again, resulting from my clearly extenuating circumstances of unidentified and unaddressed academic anxieties that have since been majorly alleviated.
In summary, I am aware that granting permission to drop courses long after the deadline is not something that is often done. I am on an extensive journey to heal and move forward from a period where my mental health was affected and resulted in an inability to make decisions (such as asking for help or dropping courses earlier) in the best interest of my academics. As I have continuously worked to address my struggles, I have clearly shown significant improvement both academically and mentally. Implementing strategies like regular mental health counselling, fostering the habit of reaching out to my support system as needed and learning the importance of submitting something imperfect over nothing, have all contributed to these positive changes. Furthermore, these adjustments are preparing me to take on future challenges as I leave this school that has taught me so much and enter a new chapter. After hearing my story, professors, academic advisors and my therapist alike agree that the three failures I received during that semester, while they were the correct grade for the work that I did (or failed to do), ultimately do not reflect who I am as a student and a contributing member of the Queen’s community.
Thank you sincerely for taking the time to hear my story and for your considerations of this matter. It is incredibly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
Cassidy Domenico
Student # 20306755
My name is Cassidy Domenico and I am a fifth-year student in the faculty of Arts and Sciences aiming to graduate with a BScH in Biology this June. Today I write to you with the intent of explaining why I wish to receive permission to late drop three courses (BIOL 527, IDIS 373 and ENSC 230) which I took over the Winter 2025 semester. I hope to have this petition reviewed due to extenuating circumstances that prevented me from dropping the courses within the regular deadline.
To begin, I would like to provide the context of what I was navigating during the period that I was taking the courses I wish to have dropped. While academic anxiety was not something entirely new to me, at the beginning of 2025 it reached an extreme that I had never faced before. While still attending all my lectures and seminars, spending hours at the library or my desk in front of my computer and overall putting on a convincing front that all was well, below the surface I was fighting an unrelenting mental battle against myself to be able to complete any schoolwork. I experienced what I can only describe as productivity paralysis, extreme indecision and a constant negative downwards emotional spiral about my ability to participate in academics at the level and standard I knew I could. There were several assignments that, despite sitting in front of a blank document for hours, I could not even begin to work on, let alone complete or submit. It was incredibly frustrating and quite frankly heartbreaking how stuck I constantly felt. My brain simply would not let me go through with any work no matter how much I rationally knew it would be better to submit ANYTHING and receive a poor mark than nothing and get a zero. The nerves associated with starting or working on an assignment far overpowered the idea of relief that I knew I would get if I eventually completed that work. It was debilitating. Ultimately, the lack of submitted assignments made me unable to obtain enough marks to pass three of the four courses I took that semester (Winter 2025).
Hearing my peers express their own stresses around school had me telling myself that what I was experiencing was normal academic angst and that I deserved to be struggling the way I was because I clearly just couldn’t handle the pressure of nearing the end of my degree. With hindsight, I now know that the reality was that I was in deep denial about how academically burnt out I was to the point that I had created an incredibly convoluted relationship with my academics and was self-sabotaging any chance I had at success. As the term went on and I slowly started to open my eyes to this reality, instead of reaching out to professors to explain myself and ask for extensions or their recommendations for how to proceed, I instead convinced myself that I was past a point of no return. I believed things regarding my grades could not be salvaged and so I must make up for my academic shortcomings by pouring all my time into other commitments. I adopted the mindset that if I continued to excel in other areas (like maintaining my relationships, contributing to my community through youth outreach initiatives or encouraging the success of others through my position as an ASUS mentor for a first-year student) I would be able to balance out the troubles I was having in my courses by creating positivity in these spaces. Eventually, this too became unsustainable. And as the negativity from my academic mental block started to seep into other aspects of my life, I realized I desperately needed to seek external help.
I began by confessing how much I had been struggling to my parents and they immediately encouraged me to remove some pressure by not aiming to graduate in 2025 and to start seeing a mental health professional. My family and my therapist taking my situation seriously made me more aware that what I was dealing with was not the experience of the average person and that I had a lot of work to do to return to a ‘normal’ and competent student from these circumstances. It was not until the term was already complete that I reached this stage of acceptance and was able to find the courage and willpower to reach out to my professors and explain myself. I am so appreciative to the educators at this institution as they expressed their sympathies for what I was dealing with. In fact, it was a professor who first suggested I apply for this late course drop option as they believed I would be a good candidate for it. Over the past many months my progress has not been linear, and I am still struggling to face some of the anxieties I have and overcome the habits I developed over that period of high internal conflict. That being said, I would like to highlight some things that evidently show how my mental state has improved since that semester, allowing me to demonstrate my academic potential in a form that is much truer to the student and person that I am and have worked hard to become in my past five years at Queen’s. Since the Winter 2025 semester, I have completed five courses at Queen’s and am currently taking a sixth. My GPA during Winter 2025 from was a 0.75. Over the Fall 2025 semester, I achieved a term GPA of 3.68, which I believe is my highest term GPA to date. The time that I have spent rebuilding and defining my relationship with academics was integral to making this incredibly drastic improvement happen, but the stark difference in grades is also a testament to how unusual my performance was that one semester. Additionally, during the past two semesters (Fall 2025 and Winter 2026), I have handed in all but two very small assignments that were worth 2% each because I was ill or chose to prioritize other, more heavily weighted assessments. Over the Winter 2025 term, there were multiple classes where I handed in less than 50% of the coursework, again, resulting from my clearly extenuating circumstances of unidentified and unaddressed academic anxieties that have since been majorly alleviated.
In summary, I am aware that granting permission to drop courses long after the deadline is not something that is often done. I am on an extensive journey to heal and move forward from a period where my mental health was affected and resulted in an inability to make decisions (such as asking for help or dropping courses earlier) in the best interest of my academics. As I have continuously worked to address my struggles, I have clearly shown significant improvement both academically and mentally. Implementing strategies like regular mental health counselling, fostering the habit of reaching out to my support system as needed and learning the importance of submitting something imperfect over nothing, have all contributed to these positive changes. Furthermore, these adjustments are preparing me to take on future challenges as I leave this school that has taught me so much and enter a new chapter. After hearing my story, professors, academic advisors and my therapist alike agree that the three failures I received during that semester, while they were the correct grade for the work that I did (or failed to do), ultimately do not reflect who I am as a student and a contributing member of the Queen’s community.
Thank you sincerely for taking the time to hear my story and for your considerations of this matter. It is incredibly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
Cassidy Domenico
Student # 20306755