Petition Letter
Request: I am appealing to drop ENGL 271 late, and aegrotat standing for ENGL 200, ENGL 290, ENGL 237, and GNDS 215. I am appealing these 2017 Winter term courses due to my extenuating health circumstances that have made it difficult for me to perform my best academically.
Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances: The reasons for dropping ENGL 271 is due to the symptoms of my illness having the most effect in this course as in comparison to my other courses. My sleep has been effected so I switch between sleeping too much, or going days without any sleep which makes it difficult to attend my 8:30 am lectures. I have been experiencing lack of motivation to attend classes and start or complete assignments. I also am struggling with anxiety that can prevent me from attending classes, appointments, and even leaving my room. My concentration, focus, and memory have been greatly impacted with my illness that makes it more challenging for me to do well in my classes when I am trying my best to do well. This also influences how well I perform on assignments and managing to do things on time. In this class, my professor has been understanding about my situation and has granted me extensions on essays but even with the extra time my situation continues to make it difficult for me to complete the tasks or do well on them. Particularly I think this class affected me the most, as compared to my other courses is due to the disturbing content. I knew the class would contain violence, death, and discussions of rape and suicide but I assumed I would be okay. My illness and the counselling I started at the beginning of this term made me more vulnerable and set me back into a state where I could not manage as well as I would have liked to. There is nothing wrong with the course or the professor, just in my situation I could not do well in it.
In appealing for aegrotat standing in ENGL 200, 290, 237 and GNDS 215, I was mostly impacted with the dissociations I have been experiencing. I had difficulty being present in lectures and discussions. At home, doing assignments or readings I would not be able to concentrate or I continued to zone out. I also experienced multiple episodes when I would lose time and have gaps in my memory. This particularly made it challenging to finish assignments on time, complete readings, and maintain new information. It is also distressing to have this new occurrence and another challenge to add stress to the things I cannot control. This school year I also began to experience migraines that impact my vision but they have been increasing over this year. I cannot read while these are happening and can trigger the dissociations. I have completed 60 or more in these four courses, missing only some of the quizzes or online forums, but I completed all major assignments as well as writing the exams.
Future Plan: My future plan is to transfer to another university where I would have a better support group, as here I have no friends. During the last month and continuing now, I have made appointments with professionals to further investigate what is happening. I hope to be able to get counselling at home over the summer to continue working on mental health issues so starting in the fall I can do better in school. The issues I have been facing have brought many challenges in school so I think I will try to take only three to four courses a term. I will continue to seek help with academic accommodations, and counselling services at the other university to try to manage these circumstances.
Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances: The reasons for dropping ENGL 271 is due to the symptoms of my illness having the most effect in this course as in comparison to my other courses. My sleep has been effected so I switch between sleeping too much, or going days without any sleep which makes it difficult to attend my 8:30 am lectures. I have been experiencing lack of motivation to attend classes and start or complete assignments. I also am struggling with anxiety that can prevent me from attending classes, appointments, and even leaving my room. My concentration, focus, and memory have been greatly impacted with my illness that makes it more challenging for me to do well in my classes when I am trying my best to do well. This also influences how well I perform on assignments and managing to do things on time. In this class, my professor has been understanding about my situation and has granted me extensions on essays but even with the extra time my situation continues to make it difficult for me to complete the tasks or do well on them. Particularly I think this class affected me the most, as compared to my other courses is due to the disturbing content. I knew the class would contain violence, death, and discussions of rape and suicide but I assumed I would be okay. My illness and the counselling I started at the beginning of this term made me more vulnerable and set me back into a state where I could not manage as well as I would have liked to. There is nothing wrong with the course or the professor, just in my situation I could not do well in it.
In appealing for aegrotat standing in ENGL 200, 290, 237 and GNDS 215, I was mostly impacted with the dissociations I have been experiencing. I had difficulty being present in lectures and discussions. At home, doing assignments or readings I would not be able to concentrate or I continued to zone out. I also experienced multiple episodes when I would lose time and have gaps in my memory. This particularly made it challenging to finish assignments on time, complete readings, and maintain new information. It is also distressing to have this new occurrence and another challenge to add stress to the things I cannot control. This school year I also began to experience migraines that impact my vision but they have been increasing over this year. I cannot read while these are happening and can trigger the dissociations. I have completed 60 or more in these four courses, missing only some of the quizzes or online forums, but I completed all major assignments as well as writing the exams.
Future Plan: My future plan is to transfer to another university where I would have a better support group, as here I have no friends. During the last month and continuing now, I have made appointments with professionals to further investigate what is happening. I hope to be able to get counselling at home over the summer to continue working on mental health issues so starting in the fall I can do better in school. The issues I have been facing have brought many challenges in school so I think I will try to take only three to four courses a term. I will continue to seek help with academic accommodations, and counselling services at the other university to try to manage these circumstances.