Chippewa Valley Times

Forrest Buck, director of Career Development at Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC), reflects on his journey from being a first-generation, low-income student to helping others in similar situations. Thirteen years ago, Buck relied on the career closet at UW-Oshkosh for professional attire for job interviews. Now, he is instrumental in providing a similar resource at CVTC.

On February 3rd, CVTC will open "Ollie’s Professional Threads," a permanent career closet located in room 100 of the Business Education Center. This initiative aims to assist students in obtaining professional clothing free of charge as they prepare to enter the workforce. "I didn’t have formal clothing, so I utilized the career closet at UW-Oshkosh," Buck recalled. He emphasized the importance of this project by stating, “This is a personal passion project for me. Without the College community’s buy-in, this opportunity wouldn’t have come to life.”

The service offers a variety of professional attire including suits, dresses, blouses, skirts, dress shirts and pants, shoes, belts, ties, and polo shirts. However, casual attire such as T-shirts and jeans will not be available. Students can visit Ollie’s Professional Threads from Monday to Thursday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and by appointment on Fridays. By presenting their student ID number, they can select one complete outfit.

The career closet is stocked through donations and will request additional contributions as needed to maintain its inventory. Buck expressed his commitment to alleviating some of the challenges students face: “Students already have enough to worry about...this is one less thing for them to worry about.”

Buck's experience with using a career closet during his college years has come full circle as he now helps provide similar support to current students at CVTC.