Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,
My name is Jonathan Ezer; I am a third year Economics major. I am appealing to drop ECON 255, ECON 212, and ECON 331 (Fall, 2016).
Since arriving at university in first year I have struggled with my mental health. In first year and second year I struggled with grasping the social scene, academics, and self care. I have always thought I had control over it. I tell myself I am okay and not one of those students who needs help, but I really did. So through the end of first year and second year I went to La Salle building to meet with a councillor who helped me deal with my suicidal thoughts. These dark images at times distracted me from work, but with the help of the councillor I stayed on track to at least pass my courses. Over the summer I saw a councillor in Toronto who helped me deal with issues and stay focused. Going into the school year, I thought I was in a good place so I stopped seeing a councillor in Kingston. I told myself I was in a good place meaning I would ignore any schoolwork whenever things got stressful. This is one of the tools I used to avoid the negative thoughts. An exact example is in my ECON 331 course, for our final essay I thought I was going to be able to get it done until it came close to the deadline. I had a really ¿dark¿¿ night in the library. So I left to avoid the negative thoughts and did not submit my final essay. This problem had an effect on all my courses. I failed 3 and barley passed one of them. One of the fails is ECON212, a course that I had passed in my fourth semester here, but failed when trying to improve my mark.
It is hard to say which parts of each course were exactly affected by everything. The over arching problem of hiding my stressful/suicidal thoughts has led me to the fails.
After first semester ended, I had 2 appointments with my registered Psychotherapist. In these sessions we worked on using techniques to keep myself in a good place but how to also deal with stress of schoolwork. Since the end of the semester, I have made the decision to work towards changing into a 3 year Religions degree. I will be staying in a course load of 4 courses. So far this semester I have been able to go to all my classes and be thoroughly engage. If I successfully get these courses dropped, I will not be retaking them. Switching into religions aligns with my interests and I believe academic success can be gained in this program. Along with the change of program I will be keeping regular contact with my psychotherapist in Toronto over email/ phone calls. As well will be looking to lessen my volunteer work with in queen¿¿s campus and Kingston community.
I appreciate the time and consideration from you and your staff.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Jonathan Ezer
10144749
My name is Jonathan Ezer; I am a third year Economics major. I am appealing to drop ECON 255, ECON 212, and ECON 331 (Fall, 2016).
Since arriving at university in first year I have struggled with my mental health. In first year and second year I struggled with grasping the social scene, academics, and self care. I have always thought I had control over it. I tell myself I am okay and not one of those students who needs help, but I really did. So through the end of first year and second year I went to La Salle building to meet with a councillor who helped me deal with my suicidal thoughts. These dark images at times distracted me from work, but with the help of the councillor I stayed on track to at least pass my courses. Over the summer I saw a councillor in Toronto who helped me deal with issues and stay focused. Going into the school year, I thought I was in a good place so I stopped seeing a councillor in Kingston. I told myself I was in a good place meaning I would ignore any schoolwork whenever things got stressful. This is one of the tools I used to avoid the negative thoughts. An exact example is in my ECON 331 course, for our final essay I thought I was going to be able to get it done until it came close to the deadline. I had a really ¿dark¿¿ night in the library. So I left to avoid the negative thoughts and did not submit my final essay. This problem had an effect on all my courses. I failed 3 and barley passed one of them. One of the fails is ECON212, a course that I had passed in my fourth semester here, but failed when trying to improve my mark.
It is hard to say which parts of each course were exactly affected by everything. The over arching problem of hiding my stressful/suicidal thoughts has led me to the fails.
After first semester ended, I had 2 appointments with my registered Psychotherapist. In these sessions we worked on using techniques to keep myself in a good place but how to also deal with stress of schoolwork. Since the end of the semester, I have made the decision to work towards changing into a 3 year Religions degree. I will be staying in a course load of 4 courses. So far this semester I have been able to go to all my classes and be thoroughly engage. If I successfully get these courses dropped, I will not be retaking them. Switching into religions aligns with my interests and I believe academic success can be gained in this program. Along with the change of program I will be keeping regular contact with my psychotherapist in Toronto over email/ phone calls. As well will be looking to lessen my volunteer work with in queen¿¿s campus and Kingston community.
I appreciate the time and consideration from you and your staff.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Jonathan Ezer
10144749