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Some of the 200 Miami University students who recently participated in the school\u2019s semi-annual \u201cSuit Up\u201d event celebrate at the JCPenney store in northern Hamilton County\u2019s Colerain Twp. The event helps to fund the purchases of professional attire for Miami students to better prepare them for the work world. (Contributed)<\/p>\n
Dressing for success only works if you have business apparel in your closet and for some Miami University students, that just got easier.<\/p>\n
Miami students recently rode a bus together to a local department store in northern Hamilton County\u2019s Colerain Twp. taking part in a university program designed to help them afford professional attire as they enter the work world.<\/p>\n
More than 200 students participated in the school\u2019s semi-annual \u201cSuit-Up\u201d event, traveling from Butler County together to a JCPenney store where they received a 30% off coupon to further supplement the grant funds through various Miami departments designed to help cover the costs.<\/p>\n
According to Miami officials, clothing purchased during Suit-Up can be used for internships, career fairs, interviews, and other professional opportunities.<\/p>\n
Madeleine Hood, associate director of employer relations for the Miami career center, said for some students, this was their first chance at picking out professional attire.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Miami, we prepare our students for the work world. This event is part of that training and preparation,\u201d said Hood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do we get them (ready)? Suit-Up is a big part of that journey. That\u2019s why this event is so important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen Miami offices helped to fund the event, including: Miami University Alumni Association; Career Services Professional Development; Farmer School of Business; Office of Residence Life and the university\u2019s Student Success Center.<\/p>\n
Miami officials said Suit-Up serves as an important touchpoint to familiarize students with the career center, which could lead to future visits for career advising, resume help, internship conversations, and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tell students that they are building a network, not just in a workspace but in a community,\u201d said Hood. \u201cWe are hoping that when students graduate from Miami, they can look back and know the career center was a part of their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the appreciative students was Taven Dotson, a first-year electrical engineering student.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was so helpful, respectful and kind,\u201d Dotson said. \u201cWhat an amazing opportunity, I couldn\u2019t be more grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Classmate Ray\u2019Aunnah Tillis, a senior information systems and cybersecurity management major, also appreciated the opportunity and was grateful for the hospitality shown throughout the shopping experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt confident and like people from the career center were rooting for me,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cThis is the first time I went to the Suit-Up experience alone and I did not feel awkward or out of place. I was thrilled to be there, and I had a great experience shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hood praised the Colerain JCPenney for its participation as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cJCPenney is such an important community partner,\u201d Hood said. \u201cThey look forward to this event every year. And we are one Miami when it comes to working with these students and making sure they have the best experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some of the 200 Miami University students who recently participated in the school\u2019s semi-annual \u201cSuit Up\u201d event celebrate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-424267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}