Petition Letter
To whom it may concern,
I'm requesting an appeal to drop the courses that I failed in the 2018-2019 academic year due to an extenuating circumstance involving my father's death.
I was born as a single child to my parents who had me in their late 30s. My father's health condition has not been great, so I remember him taking many pills frequently since I was very young. He has been the nicest person that I have ever known - who was very kind, gentle, and caring to everyone. My parents decided to move to Canada primarily for my education, and this is how I started studying in B.C. where I earned my high school diploma and moved to Queen's University.
Studying in a foreign country has not been easy: I mean, my parents wanted to offer a better educational environment to me which I am eternally grateful for, but there are obstacles to go over in every decision. To me, in addition to the new languages and new environments, it was the idea of the significant sacrifice that my parents had made just for me, which often came to me as pressure and stress. They stayed with me and looked after me throughout my high school time and I was able to successfully earn my high school degree in 2017.
Then I chose to go to Queen's University to live by myself and my parents decided to go back to South Korea. I was scared to start living by myself, but somewhat relieved by the fact that my parents could enjoy their lives now that they don't need to sacrifice anymore to look after me.
It wasn't long after I had started my first year that my father's health condition became severe.
Around the beginning of February 2018, his condition has drastically become worse, and as a result, he had to stay at an ICU. There were several times when his condition had become critical, so my mother had asked me to come to Korea during the semester. I did make several trips back to Korea during the semester from the end of February and March missing my classes when my mother had called me whenever my father's situation had become critical. My backpack had been ready at all times, and I just had to buy a flight ticket to go back to Korea on the day that she had called. I just felt completely incapable and the only thing that I could do was to pray that my father is alive when I get there - after a long 14 hours of flight.
On April 12th 2018, my father passed away and I missed all of my finals as I had to go back to Korea again.
I did not know what to do and am still unsure of what to do: I looked after his funeral with my mother, and stayed with her from May to September. I thought that I would feel better and somewhat empowered to continue my education after I stay with my mother. However, not long after I came back to the university, I realized that it was not the case. Staying alone in a foreign country made me even depressed and anxious.
I re-took the courses that I failed in 2018 because I had thought that I could do better and thought that I could pick myself up. However, I even had trouble with going to classes and catching up with coursework: it just made me very anxious and depressed, and the feeling of pressure has made it worse. I was surprised at how incapable I have become from all these. I ended up dropping the courses that I had been enrolled in this semester.
I am appeal now because I recently started picking myself up: I believe the outcome of grades that I received from the previous courses does not fairly reflect my academic and learning ability which is why I am making this appeal for your consideration. I have gone through a critical life event over the past year or so, and I believe I am still going through some hardship now. However, I would like to pick myself up and prepare better for the future.
Please consider my appeal so that I can prepare myself better for my academic journey after going through this disheartening life event.
I'm requesting an appeal to drop the courses that I failed in the 2018-2019 academic year due to an extenuating circumstance involving my father's death.
I was born as a single child to my parents who had me in their late 30s. My father's health condition has not been great, so I remember him taking many pills frequently since I was very young. He has been the nicest person that I have ever known - who was very kind, gentle, and caring to everyone. My parents decided to move to Canada primarily for my education, and this is how I started studying in B.C. where I earned my high school diploma and moved to Queen's University.
Studying in a foreign country has not been easy: I mean, my parents wanted to offer a better educational environment to me which I am eternally grateful for, but there are obstacles to go over in every decision. To me, in addition to the new languages and new environments, it was the idea of the significant sacrifice that my parents had made just for me, which often came to me as pressure and stress. They stayed with me and looked after me throughout my high school time and I was able to successfully earn my high school degree in 2017.
Then I chose to go to Queen's University to live by myself and my parents decided to go back to South Korea. I was scared to start living by myself, but somewhat relieved by the fact that my parents could enjoy their lives now that they don't need to sacrifice anymore to look after me.
It wasn't long after I had started my first year that my father's health condition became severe.
Around the beginning of February 2018, his condition has drastically become worse, and as a result, he had to stay at an ICU. There were several times when his condition had become critical, so my mother had asked me to come to Korea during the semester. I did make several trips back to Korea during the semester from the end of February and March missing my classes when my mother had called me whenever my father's situation had become critical. My backpack had been ready at all times, and I just had to buy a flight ticket to go back to Korea on the day that she had called. I just felt completely incapable and the only thing that I could do was to pray that my father is alive when I get there - after a long 14 hours of flight.
On April 12th 2018, my father passed away and I missed all of my finals as I had to go back to Korea again.
I did not know what to do and am still unsure of what to do: I looked after his funeral with my mother, and stayed with her from May to September. I thought that I would feel better and somewhat empowered to continue my education after I stay with my mother. However, not long after I came back to the university, I realized that it was not the case. Staying alone in a foreign country made me even depressed and anxious.
I re-took the courses that I failed in 2018 because I had thought that I could do better and thought that I could pick myself up. However, I even had trouble with going to classes and catching up with coursework: it just made me very anxious and depressed, and the feeling of pressure has made it worse. I was surprised at how incapable I have become from all these. I ended up dropping the courses that I had been enrolled in this semester.
I am appeal now because I recently started picking myself up: I believe the outcome of grades that I received from the previous courses does not fairly reflect my academic and learning ability which is why I am making this appeal for your consideration. I have gone through a critical life event over the past year or so, and I believe I am still going through some hardship now. However, I would like to pick myself up and prepare better for the future.
Please consider my appeal so that I can prepare myself better for my academic journey after going through this disheartening life event.