Students like Andrew Pham, a sophomore in software engineering, gathered in the Multicultural Center (MCC) of the Memorial Union for the Free Business Attire Pop-Up Shop thursday.
The Pop-Up Shop has obtained an average attendance rate of almost 5,000 participants over the past seven years of being open, according to Holly Clemons, event organizer and program specialist in the Health and Human Sciences Administration.
Clemons said the event was created to give students more opportunities for success at Iowa State and in their professional careers.
“We’ve been doing it since 2017 and our first pop-up shop, we had 80 people come – our record was last semester [when] we had 674, so it is much bigger than when we originally conceptualized it,” Clemons said.
Clemons estimated an average of 500 students attend the pop-up every semester. She said all of the manual labor that goes into setting up the pop-up is always worthwhile after witnessing the gratitude from students and attendees.
Pham said he attended the shop to find a tie to wear to the Engineering Career Fair, which takes place from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Scheman Building and Hilton Coliseum.
“I really like the variety of stuff they have to offer,” Pham said. “There are so many different ties to look through.”
Pham sifted through the bin of ties after listening to a tie-tying demonstration by Ronnie Perez, an academic advisor for the Business Undergraduate Program, who was volunteering at the Pop-Up Shop and assisted student shoppers with their clothing.
Matthew Lorentzen, a freshman in aerospace engineering, received an email about the Pop-Up Shop and attended the event seeking business pants for the Engineering Career Fair. According to Lorentzen, he was successful in his search.
Included in volunteers at the event was the Student Success Coordinator for the Ivy College of Business, Brady Talley. Talley said he is a former director of Multicultural Student Success, which has been a staple program that the College of Human Sciences has had in place for over 25 years.
“[It started] with just meeting the needs of underrepresented students — and now, over time it has evolved to all students with events like this [the Pop-Up Shop],” Talley said.
The primary focus of initiating the Pop-Up Shop was helping provide underrepresented students with “a good suit or a nice dress, to then attend career fairs, get jobs and meet their unfulfilled needs,” Talley said.
Clemons walked around the shop, assisting students and putting away clothing students had tried on.
“It’s so refreshing to have all of the hard work that goes into setting [the pop-up shop] up paid off by just the gratitude that a lot of students vocalize.”
According to Clemons, years ago she was a graduate student at Iowa State, and putting the Pop-Up Shop on was part of her job. When she was hired as a full time faculty member, she ensured the shop was a stipulation.
“I had to be able to work with the Pop-Up Shop because I really am so emotionally invested in it,” Clemons said.
One of the best and easiest ways to give back to students as an alumni or a donor is to give away the clothes you’re not wearing anymore so all students are able to succeed, according to Talley.
“I purged my closet and I filled a bin with not only dress, dress wear, casual dress wear and casual clothes,” Talley said.
The Free Business Attire Pop-Up Shop is put on by The Closet, a student organization founded by Clemons to gather regular volunteers for the Pop-Up Shop. Historically, before The Closet became a student organization, an off-campus storage unit held all of the clothing where it would sit until the next pop-up event, according to Clemons.
“With the addition of The Closet suit organization and the closet space, we have a nice room in the MCC with racks attached to the walls that really feels like a thrift store,” Clemons said.
“We can bring those clothes right back to The Closet and continue letting students look through them, as opposed to letting them sit and collect dust.”
Clemons said her mission is to continue the spirit of the Pop-Up Shop beyond the two days that it is physically available. She said this is doable through collaborations with other organizations such as Student Wellness and the ‘Styled for Success’ Event.
“Just go out there and be a successful Cyclone,” Talley said about his goals for students who pop-up shop.
