Students at the first “Suit Up” event hosted by Career Services Feb. 18 at the Destiny USA JCPenney location called their parents asking why there were three numbers on the tags for dress shirts or what matched best with certain pieces. But that was precisely what the event was for: helping uninformed students get ready for the professional world.

In addition to the 40 percent off coupon given to students upon entry, JCPenney offered measurements, mini-makeovers at the in-store Sephora, assistance with matching, professional portraits and JCPenney gift card giveaways every half hour.

Oswego State was one of the first schools in New York to take part in this first-year initiative with JCPenney. The event is nationwide with about 25 other “Suit Up” events held by colleges and local JCPenney locations, said Kimberly Merle, the general manager of the Destiny USA location. SUNY Binghamton and University at Buffalo are two others involved in offering this program to their students.

Gary Morris, director of Career Services at Oswego State, had been planning this since the middle of the fall 2017 semester.

“About mid-October, we heard about the program, and it took me about five seconds to sign onto this thing because I knew it was going to be a pretty big hit with our students,” Morris said.

Morris said he discussed this with the corporate offices of JCPenney and was put in contact with Merle to get this specific event off the ground.

“Our corporate office connected Gary and I together,” Merle said. “We had several conference calls to plan the event. I think our first conference call was probably in November with Gary. He came to see us, and we sat down and had a lot of visits to kind of coordinate things together.“

Career services wanted to plan an event like this for three reasons, Morris said: help students financially, prepare these students with professional attire and show some Oswego pride with an event of this scale.

“I just wanted to make this event something people would like,” Morris said. “This is Oswego, and we’re all Oswegonians in this process. And we’re rowing in the same direction for everyone’s success here. “

The event was widely successful, according to both parties. Oswego State was second in amount spent behind Colorado State University. Students from the Fort Collins, Colorado, campus spent roughly $56,000, while Oswego State students racked up a bill of $42,528.

“There has been 25 events nationwide, and the volume that we did here ranked number two out of the 25 stores that have had similar events,” Merle said. “The only event that beat us in total volume was Colorado State University, and they have quite a bit more students than SUNY Oswego does.”

On average, each student spent $109.05 and all together saved more than $17,000. On top of that, 41 JCPenney credit cards were opened, which helped students save an additional 15 percent. There were also other store savings available to students on specific items, aside from the 40 percent off coupon offered to all.

Morris said the Oswego JCPenney did not have the staff, inventory or space for the event, after his original thought was to hold it at that location. This forced the event to be moved to a larger store in Destiny USA, which is about 50 minutes away. 

Career Services originally had four busses sponsored to transport students down, but because of demand, the Accounting Society sponsored a fifth Onondaga Coach bus to transport their students. The President’s Office sponsored one of the original four busses. Assistant Vice President for Residence Life and Housing Richard Kolenda, School of Business Dean Richard Skolnik and Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Jerald Woolfolk were three others who helped with transportation costs to Syracuse, but it started with Woolfolk’s help.

“I brought it up to senior leadership in student affairs,” Morris said. “Dr. Jerald Woolfolk said ‘put me down for a bus,’ and it caught fire from there. There was no hesitation in her voice.  She went out and gathered support for transportation to get students down there.”

This location received additional merchandise, and associates were given more training on how to properly measure students and meet the demand to appease the crowd.

“We didn’t really know going into it how successful it was going to be, but I can tell you the way Oswego promoted it was definitely contributed to how successful the event was,” Merle said. “All of my associates said this after the event was over, that it was probably the nicest group that we’ve dealt with. The students were phenomenal and very appreciative, which was very heartwarming to see.”

Morris and Merle said they are open to hosting another “Suit Up” event next year as well.

“I’ve already contacted Gary and said ‘you know what, let’s talk about another one’” Merle said.

Photo provided by Career Services