The Center for Career and Professional Development at Grambling State University has officially opened the new Career Closet in the Favrot Student Union.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by student leadership, community leaders, and President Richard Gallot.
The career closet has been moved to the second floor of the Favrot Student Union to grant students easier access to professional clothing. The career closet is free to all students however on a per need basis.
Antoinette Livingston Director for the Center for Career and Professional Development wants students to feel as though they are having a genuine shopping experience. The career closet is equipped with a sitting area and a dressing room.
The mantra inside the career closet reads “Own every space that you enter,” encouraging students to take advantage of opportunities and to have confidence in themselves.
There will also be career and professional workshops offered to students in which students can earn the higher value items such as jewelry and purses. Those items will be for “students who have been consistently engaged in the career and professional development process in our center,” Livingston said.
“We want our students to be prepared with the skills they need for the workplace, but also that they can dress the part. So if it is dress for success we are adding to students’ preparations, then we must meet our students where they are,” said President Gallot on the importance of the Career Closet.
The closet will have everything both male and female students will need to dress for success in professional environments. Livingston also added that data will be collected to better determine the needs of the students in terms of sizes and what items students are searching for.
Livingston and the Center for Career and Professional Development are accepting donations in all sizes.