Thursday, January 30, 2025
Suiting Up: CVTC expands career closet for students in need
Forrest Buck, Career Development director at Chippewa Valley Technical College, stands in the new career closet – Ollie’s Professional Threads – where students can shop for a professional outfit for interviews, internships or jobs at no cost.
Forrest Buck said his life has come full circle.
As the director of Career Development at Chippewa Valley Technical College, Buck has the resources to dress professionally for his career. But it wasn’t always that way.
Thirteen years ago, he was a first-generation, low-income student at college who needed help securing appropriate clothes for a job interview.
“I didn’t have formal clothing, so I utilized the career closet at UW-Oshkosh,” he said. “I utilized those opportunities, so being able to tie that into my job years later is really exciting for me.”
For the last several years, CVTC’s Career Services department has hosted career closet pop-ups where students can choose an outfit of donated clothes for free.
But recently, Buck's dream of a permanent space for a career closet was born. On Monday, Feb. 3, CVTC’s career closet – Ollie’s Professional Threads – will be open to students daily in room 100 of the Business Education Center.
The free service is designed to help CVTC students dress for success as they transition into the workforce. Buck said he and his fellow CVTC colleagues want to ensure students look and feel confident to get that interview, start an internship, or begin a new job without financial barriers.
“This is a personal passion project for me. Without the College community’s buy-in, this opportunity wouldn’t have come to life,” Buck said. “I was in their shoes. There’s no shame in it. It’s here, it’s available and it’s free.”
CVTC’s career closet will offer suits and separates, dresses, blouses and skirts, dress shirts and pants, shoes, belts, ties, polo shirts and other items appropriate to dress at different businesses. Buck said the career closet will not offer casual attire like T-shirts, shorts, jeans, sneakers, leggings and similar clothes.
Students can visit Ollie’s Professional Threads from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and by appointment on Fridays. By giving their student ID number, they can explore CVTC’s business casual and professional attire collection and select up to one complete outfit for free.
The career closet is supplied by donations. Buck said clothing donations will be requested as needed to supply the closet with items that will help students dress for a professional setting. For now, there are plenty of items for all kinds of student shoppers.
“Students already have enough to worry about. I think for some people, this is a restart for them – they’re coming back to school, and it’s one less thing for them to worry about,” Buck said. “This is a space for them to become who they really are.”
