NEXT: Helping exceptional students succeed

In honor of MUSC’s Bicentennial Celebration, “Then… Now… Next,” the MUSC College of Pharmacy takes a three-part, then-now-next look at Alycia Araneo Craft and her impact. Her support has made this time a pivotal moment in the college’s history.

Part III: Next.

Alycia Craft’s shaping of the future of the MUSC College of Pharmacy starts with the exceptional students who earn the right to call themselves Craft scholars.

This path was first laid by her father Michael P. Araneo, who established the Michael Araneo Endowed Scholarship in 1992, and she has widened the impact with the largest endowed scholarship fund at the college. The Alycia Araneo Craft Scholars Program supports up to five students a year.

This year’s slate of recipients includes Lauren Adams, Kristen Bordner, Kathleen Polkowski, Jacob Powell, and Angeleki Zecopoulos. The Michael Araneo scholar is Brandéa Hardie.

If their post-education lives echo their accomplishments thus far, the MUSC College of Pharmacy’s “next” is well-represented. In fact, three of these recipients have been featured in recent college news:

• When the college was asked to provide an inspirational student to highlight in this year’s annual fund appeal, it turned to fourth-year student Brandéa Hardie ’24. Hardie took an unusual path to pharmacy school, earning a master's in clinical research from Campbell University after earning B.S. with a concentration in neuroscience from East Carolina University in 2007.

  Hardie Q-and-A

• Lauren Adams ’24 represented all scholarship students when she took on the role of keynote speaker at the 2023 Scholarship Luncheon. She has been one of the college’s most prominent student leaders, serving as president of her P1 class and then as student body president. She earned a bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Virginia.

  Video of Adams’ address at Scholarship Luncheon

• Angeleki Zecopoulos ’24 was one of the featured students in the most recent episode of Hall Talk, in which Dean Philip Hall toured the Center for Clinical Evaluation and Teaching with faculty member James Sterrett. Zecopoulos earned a bachelor’s of applied science in historic preservation and conservation from Clemson University.
  Video of Zecopoulos in Hall Talk

These outstanding students will make a lasting difference in the field of pharmacy, just as they have made a difference at the MUSC College of Pharmacy. It is this kind of lasting, self-sustaining impact that is at the heart of the Araneo Craft Scholars Program and, ultimately, illustrative of the living legacy of Michael Araneo, Robert Craft, and Alycia Araneo Craft.

Alycia Araneo Craft Part I: Then

Alycia Araneo Craft Part II: Now

 

The Araneo Craft Story

Naming of Michael P. Araneo Building

Celebration of Michael P. Araneo Building

Michael P. Araneo Lobby

Alycia Craft gift

Araneo Craft family

Alycia Craft and the Heart of Philanthropy