At one point or another all our students will need business professional clothing, for a case competition, networking night, presentation or even an interview. For Grossman School of Business senior Maddie Stoops, the idea to hold an event that enabled students to have access to professional clothing took root in her freshman year.

“When I came in as a first-year student to the business school, I had no professional clothes, no suit, blouses, trousers or anything” she said. “However, as my aunt is a lawyer, she shipped me two full boxes of clothes. So when I joined the Grossman Student Advisory Committee (GSAC), I always wanted to put on some sort of event that would allow other students to have access to professional clothes, because I was lucky that I had my aunt send me those clothes and I was thinking how do all these other students get clothes for their presentations, interviews and case competitions?” 

Maddie continued “when I became VP of GSAC, we started to brainstorm as to how to make this happen.  After winter break in the spring of 2019, we created a plan, publicized the need for donations and started collecting clothing. We decided to collect professor’s, faculty and staff’s professional clothes that they don’t use anymore, to bring them into school and make them affordable for students to buy. This is about giving the opportunity for students who don’t have the ability to buy $200 suits, the chance to buy affordable professional clothes, which have been donated from across the UVM campus.”

This week on Thursday September 19, from 11am – 3pm in the Keller Room, Ifshin Hall, Maddie’s idea becomes a reality, when GSAC holds its first Dress for Success event.

Dress for Success allows any UVM student to purchase donated business clothing with credit or debit cards; with the proceeds benefitting GSAC’s de-stress events for students at the end of each semester.

For Maddie the event is the culmination of her idea to help her fellow students be better prepared for their careers commenting, “with the help of GSAC we were able to make this event happen, which I am really excited about. The faculty is really excited and happy that we are doing this for the students, and we have gotten a lot of positive feedback in that regard.  I’m very excited about this new event and we hope it continues every year.” 

Dress for Success will be held Thursday, September 19, 2019 from 11am – 3pm, Keller Room, Ifshin Hall in the Grossman School of Business. 

Donations are being accepted through Wednesday at the Center for Student Success in Kalkin Hall.