Bronco Day aired on March 27 as a dynamic, two-hour broadcast featuring interviews with students, faculty, and staff along with pre-recorded videos and content. The livestream event was made possible through months of collaboration between undergraduate admissions, University Event Services, University Television Productions, and the Bronco Day committee.
The event targeted prospective undergraduate students, with a viewership of 1,036 people representing 37 states, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and a province in Pakistan. High school seniors represented 64% of the audience. Transfer and nontraditional students accounted for 14%. Younger high school students (freshman to juniors) made up the remaining 23%. Attendees engaged with admissions counselors via YouTube’s chat for a total of 2,959 messages.
See a video of the broadcast here: https://youtu.be/KbJknbCPMA4.
Bronco Day featured the breadth of opportunities on campus, including looks at undergraduate research, involvement opportunities, orientation, advising, dining, and housing. University Television Productions, an elective communication course, was an integral part of the planning and execution of the program, giving the students in the course an exceptional high stakes experiential learning opportunity. The two hosts who led the audience through the broadcast are both seniors at Boise State, majoring in media arts.
Additionally, academic colleges and programs hosted virtual open houses for high school seniors the week following Bronco Day. A total of 45 new videos and unique website landing pages for each academic college were created specifically for the event.
The virtual open houses were a high-impact recruitment opportunity for the colleges, as many students who attended are admitted – but not yet committed – to Boise State for next fall. Participating units included the Advising and Academic Support Center, College of Health Sciences, Honors College, Extended Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Business and Economics, College of Engineering, School of Public Service, and the College of Innovation and Design.
Bronco Day was a true university-wide effort. The high-quality outcome is a result of teamwork and engagement from folks across campus. The Bronco Day planning team thanks the individuals across campus who contributed to making the innovative broadcast and weeklong open houses so impactful in the recruitment of new Broncos.