Petitioning the Academic Council

I have a dilemma.

My biology professor has offered to get me an internship at the University of California next summer in a biology lab. I'd be doing my own research project, and it pays! It's pretty much perfect.

Problem!
In order to be eligible for this internship, I need to get my next 2 biology courses done. One this fall, one in the spring.
The biology I need to take this fall has a co-requisite of a certain chemistry class, which would normally be no big deal. The problem is, the chemistry class has a prerequisite of either Chem2 or high school chemistry.

Problem with taking Chem2: I don't have time! If I take chem2, I won't finish my requirements in time for the internship.

Problem with high school chemistry: I didn't take it! I joined the army instead!!

So I have to petition the college Academic Council this coming Tuesday and convince them to, as my adviser put it, "ignore their own policies and make an exception just for you."

Basically, if I fail, the internship goes to someone else and I lose the opportunity of a lifetime. I do have a 4.0 on my side - but that only gets you so far. My adviser advised me to get a letter from my professor in support of this plan - unfortunately, he's speaking at a big biology conference at the Burgess Shale right now and I have no way to get a hold of him.

Blah!!

Any great ideas as to how to make myself look as smart and dedicated as possible?

-Dylan