Boise State held its first annual Bronco Day, a special, campus-wide student recruitment day, on April 11. The College of Health Sciences held an open house in the Norco building with tables for the School of Social Work, the Student Nurses Association, the College of Health Sciences Student Services and Academic Advising, and the School of Allied Health Sciences’ Departments of Radiologic Sciences and Community and Environmental Health.
Tours of the College’s Simulation Center and the School of Nursing’s Practice Labs were provided. The technology and unique learning experiences offered in the Simulation Center were admired by both the prospective students and their parents and guardians.
University Health Services, also now a part of the College of Health Sciences, passed out information and their Peer Health Educators hosted a table with their trivia wheel, which generates health-related trivia questions for attendees to answer and win a give-away.
The School of Allied Health Sciences Department of Respiratory Care brought examples of the tools respiratory therapists used in the past and use today including: an iron lung; The Vest(R), an airway clearance system for patients with cystic fibrosis; and a ventilator that pumped air into a portion of a cow’s lung. The ventilated lung attracted both disgust and fascination as attendees donned medical gloves and felt the lung expand and contract with air. The iron lung also attracted attention as it was an unfamiliar sight to many of the younger attendees. The iron lung was used as a negative pressure ventilator to help polio patients breathe. Several brave people climbed in to experience the iron lung’s chamber; even fewer asked to have the ventilator turned on. They reported it being a unique and unusual experience.
At the height of the open house, the first floor of the Norco building was packed with people among the various information tables with a line extending down the block to enter the building. The floor buzzed with excited discussion among College of Health Sciences current and future students, faculty and staff volunteers.
Both attendees and volunteers were pleased with the event and the turnout. “I was amazed that we had students from everywhere,” said Becky Bunderson, director of the College of Health Sciences Simulation Center. “I was talking with a group of students and parents from Utah, Texas and the Seattle area. It was impressive that we are drawing students from around the country.”
Nearly 1700 future Broncos and guests braved the rain to take part in the festivities. Every college held an open house and more than 300 volunteers campus-wide provided support for tours, demonstrations, information tables, logistics, planning, food, cleanup and more. Following the campus-wide open house, Bronco Day visitors enjoyed the spring football game and a surprise concert by Jordin Sparks and Dev on the Blue turf after the spring game.