By ALLISON RUWALDT
The Teacher’s Closet is hosting an open house from October 26 to 30 in the Education Center, rooms 215 A-D.
The Teacher Closet is a space on campus where any student can get free professional-style clothing items. Those who work with the Teacher Closet have worked hard recently to reorganize and update it, and they are using the open house as an opportunity to share the program with students who may not know what it is.
Inside one of the rooms of the Teacher’s Closet full of shirts and other tops for students.
Although the open house is providing a broader opportunity for students to check out the clothes, students are able to get clothes from the closet at any point in the year. As long as someone is enrolled at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, all they have to do is let a worker in EC205 know what they need and why, and they can access the free clothes.
This program can help students in almost any field by getting clothes for things like interviews, public speaking events, student teacher needs, and many more. Most professional clothing items tend to be higher in price and become a heavy expense for students in need, but a program like the Teachers Closet helps ensure that students are set up for success.
The program was started around 2016 by Misty Wiilyard, the Accreditation and Program Management Coordinator at NWOSU, when she noticed that student teachers were swapping clothes so they would not have to buy more. The closet takes donations from local businesses, teachers on and off campus, and community members, and once donated, workers clean the items and prep them for the closet.
The program is also very helpful for on-campus students who do not have vehicles. Some may need access to these clothes but have no way to get to a physical store. Rather than spend extra on shipping, the closet gives them the chance to just walk from their dorms to get the clothes they need.
The open house will be held at different times throughout the week. On Monday, it will be open from 1 to 5 pm; Tuesday, 9 am to 12 pm; Wednesday, 1 to 4 pm; Thursday, 2 to 5 pm; and Friday, 8 to 10 am. Although the workers outlined these times for the open house, if a student needs it, they can let someone in EC 205 know that they are needing clothes from the teacher’s closet and a worker will let them in.
The closet offers clothes like suits, button-up shirts, dress pants, blouses, skirts, purses, shoes, and even currently has some makeup. These items are for any student of any major and are all completely free.