Illuminating the Student Mental Health Crisis through the Word Cloud

Dr. Elizabeth Boretz, Executive Director of Student Success, Otis College of Art and Design

Dr. Elizabeth Boretz, Executive Director of Student Success, Otis College of Art and Design

The power of storytelling through imagery in ancient traditional lyric captivated me as an undergraduate Spanish major. This passion propelled me into a career as a faculty member at a small public liberal arts university. I had dreamed of helping students discover self-empowerment through mastery of their bilingualism. It immediately floored me to see how often students were absent—or vanished from the class roster altogether. I became intrigued.

I first stepped into the classroom in the 1990s, a time when mental health was not necessarily a mentionable topic when students were facing difficulties. The grief I felt for the students we lost sent me back to graduate school, where I sought to learn more about college student development. This journey led me to a new career in Student Success as an administrator in Student Affairs.

There, I applied my ability to move an audience through image-laden, persuasive language to capture grant funding for Student Success initiatives. Managing externally sponsored services for diverse and unique populations of students eventually led me to master storytelling not just through words, but through data. Technology-based tools illuminated the gaps in readiness and engagement among students from different backgrounds. We applied those findings toward ongoing, datadriven innovations in student support.

“When their words coalesce, it is our duty to interpret and act upon the pictures in the clouds”

Now, two decades into my Student Success journey, I find myself at a small college with a highly diverse student population. And yet, I’m returning to ancient traditions— engaging audiences through words and pictures. Today, the numbers no longer speak for themselves. Adapting academic operations, course delivery, student programs, and all the services we provide demands broad-ranging sensitivity. We must create a sense of belonging for learners from diverse races, cultures, learning styles, and physical and cognitive abilities— including those who are quietly managing their mental health.

In 2021, for example, I led a movement to abolish the term “Academic Probation” at a large public university, replacing it with “Academic Notice.” The goal was to decriminalize academic struggle. Research showed that terms with criminal justice connotations caused distress for students from underserved racial groups—students who were already experiencing academic difficulty at disproportionately high rates. We also ended the practice of immediately placing registration holds on students facing academic challenges. These changes transformed a historically discouraging juncture into one that was more supportive and hopeful.

Alongside that effort, I analyzed the distribution of registration holds on our campus. As suspected, students from the most underserved racial backgrounds carried the highest number of holds per capita. We asked, “How does this practice affect student mental health?” and shifted toward more personalized, compassionate outreach—reducing reliance on automated obstacles.

Most recently, I was asked to review student applications for Leave of Absence or Withdrawal at my current institution. I discovered that nearly every student who left us did so in good academic standing. With little compelling quantitative data, yet a trove of personal statements, I turned again to imagery. I fed every student’s statement into a word cloud generator. The result was powerful: words like “mental” and “health” loomed large, painting a picture of escalating mental health concerns influencing student decisions to leave college.

More and more, students are telling us that the reason they are suspending their studies is their mental health. The convergence of analytical technologies, both old and new, offers us unprecedented access to student experiences. But it is also time to return to the oldest storytelling tools: words and images. Today’s students have a strong command of the mental health lexicon. By integrating their voices into our planning, we can create environments where students are supported through personal challenges—rather than walking away from their goals. When their words coalesce, it is our duty to interpret and act upon the pictures in the clouds.