BCC held its Open House on Thursday, April 20. The Open House was a strategy that was put forth by the Marketing & Recruitment Committee and was co-chaired by Dr. Diane Banks and Eugene Adams. It was an opportunity for high school students, first-year BCC students and non-traditional students to meet faculty, administrators and current students to explore the historic campus.

Our tagline for the Open House and this upcoming year is “I AM BCC” – a declarative statement that shows pride in the institution that we work in and the students that enroll. This is an important step in changing the image of the institution and our ability to meet our enrollment goals.

The event featured tours of the healthcare, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and Art & Music departments. Members of the sports teams, student clubs and others participated.

The event was extremely successful with approximately 467 students registering and 383 students attending, an 82% show rate. They were extremely excited to enroll at BCC and receive T-shirts branded with the College logo. They ran the quad and joined the dance club in rousing numbers. The Admissions Office run tours were very popular and well attended.

Dr. Diane Price Banks, Logistics co-coordinator for the open House event and the Director of the Medical Laboratory Technician program said, “Events like this are important to BCC because they help develop relationships with the College community and what it does for students and graduates. The beautiful, historic campus radiated magic. The Open House gave departments the opportunity to showcase what they can do to advance students to the next chapter in their lives and share in the magic. Potential students are empowered to make the decision to attend BCC as their future academic home.”

This event was a campus-wide initiative. The buy-in from faculty and staff was amazing. The Open House Committee gives thanks to the faculty from the Art/Music department, History, Math and Computer Science, Health, Recreation and Physical Therapy, Biological Sciences, The Library, Social Sciences, Business, Political Sciences, Cyber Security, English, Communications & Arts, Paralegal Studies, Medical Laboratory Technician Program, the TV Studio, Allied Health & Nursing, STEM Fair and Black/LatinX Studies.

The statistics from the event were impressive:

• We actually hit our cap for RSVP’s at 500
• 219 students RSVP’d and 111 attended = 50.6% show rate
• 242 total students in attendance from counselor sign ups which include their student classes.
• All counselors in attendance with their classes received a campus tour
• 383 attended out of 500 RSVPs= 76.6% show rate

Special thanks also go to staff from Liberty Partnerships Program, Disability Services, Learning Commons, Alumni GYM, CUNY Start, Adult Education and Training, CLIP, EOC, FYP, College Now, STEP, Admissions Office, College Discovery, Financial Aid, Registrars, CUNY Edge and ASAP.

The faculty and staff showed up and shared in the BCC magic. They made the campus warm and welcoming to visitors. Dr. Banks, noted she would be remiss if she didn’t thank the student clubs and organizations who participated as well.  “The students helped to bring the campus to life.”