Vols look to impress in home opener See pg. 11
A large selection of ties is displayed at Smokey’s Closet. Taylor Kirkland / Contributor
Smokey’s Closet provides affordable clothing Houston Holdren Contributor
UT’s Center for Career Development partnered with Student Government Association (SGA) to host its Smokey’s Closet pop-up shop on Wednesday and Thursday. Smokey’s Closet is a two-day event that provides donated articles of professional clothing for students to keep for free. It offers suits, collared shirts, business skirts, ties, shoes and other accessories. The Center for Career Development typically limits students to choosing five items in order to complete
Volume 134 Issue 4
their looks, and it is designed to allow students to take home a full professional outfit. The event took place on Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and will also be available on Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This event is catered to all undergraduate and graduate UT students from differing majors. “We host the event before the fall job fairs because we know a lot of employers will be on campus for both jobs and internships, and professional dress is expected at job fairs,” Bree Shepard, graduate teaching assistant at the Center for Career Development, said. There are multiple upcoming job fairs
towards the end of September. The engineering and STEM job and internship fair will be on Sept. 25. The supply chain management job and internship fair will be on Sept. 26. The business, retail and government job and internship fair will be on Sept 27. The fairs will take place from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Thompson-Boling Arena. The goal of Smokey’s Closet is to help students succeed in giving good first impressions when they attend job fairs, internship or graduate school interviews. Based on calculations from the 2016 Smokey’s Closet, Mary Mahoney, Smokey’s Closet coordinator and assis-
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tant director at the Center for Career Development, stated that the Center for Career Development was able to collect 1,500 pieces of clothing, assisting 262 students in gaining professional attire. Mahoney said the long-term goals for Smokey’s Closet are increasing availability for students year-round and creating a more organized structure. “Our goal eventually is to have this (event) throughout the year — to probably offer certain hours or by call to make an appointment,” Mahoney said. “But for right now, we’ll probably just continue to try once a semester or even once a year to do a pop-up shop.” See SMOKEY’S CLOSET on Page 3
Thursday, September 7, 2017