Moore School hosts residential experiential learning opportunity for high school students
South Carolina high school students and in-state incoming Moore School students recently shared a week of business education, corporate visits, networking, professional development and summer fun for the 3rd annual Business Success Academy (BSA).
The Moore School’s Office of Access, Opportunity, and Community Engagement organizes the week-long program that brings together 49 scholars from South Carolina, including returning Business Success Academy scholars, incoming Darla Moore School of Business first-year undergraduates and high school scholars.
A five-day residential program made possible through individual and corporate support, BSA offers high school juniors and seniors from South Carolina an engaging introduction to life as a Moore School and USC student.
Throughout the program, participants receive high-level, focused instruction in core business courses including accounting, economics, data analytics, management and business communications.
They hear from executives about their experiences; this year’s program included:
- Mark Khalil, ’78 marketing, former Sony president
- Lloyd Johnson, ’80 accounting and finance, ’81 MACC, a retired financial executive
- Kitty Chaney Reed, IBM Chief Leadership, Culture and Inclusion Officer
- Herman Keith, resident artist in Lake City, South Carolina
- Briana Reckling, ’22 marketing, Smith+Nephew associate sales representative for sports medicine
- Phillip “Shady” Rodgers, executive director of Lake City Creative Alliance and president of the Darla Moore Foundation and board member for the Greater Lake City Chamber of Commerce.
Students participate in site visits to meet with corporate partners, exploring real-world business applications. Corporate site visits for the 2025 BSA included EY and Krispy Kreme in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Sonoco in Hartsville, South Carolina. The students also toured Moore Farms in Lake City, South Carolina — the hometown of Darla Moore, the business school’s namesake.
“Business Success Academy prepares high school scholars for success within and beyond the classroom,” says Deborah Hazzard, Moore School Associate Dean of Access, Opportunity and Community Engagement. “The demand for our summer programming has grown tremendously, prompting us to expand offerings in summer 2026 by welcoming more students from across the state of South Carolina and opening the experience to out-of-state students as well. We remain steadfast in our commitment to change lives and trajectories through education and impactful experiences such as BSA!”
Upon successfully completing the Business Success Academy program, attendees become eligible to apply for an exclusive scholarship opportunity after meeting the admission requirements and being admitted to the Darla Moore School of Business.
Hear from some of the 2025 attendees about what they learned and how the week on USC’s campus made an impact for them:
incoming Moore School freshman and Rising Scholar for fall 2025
Major: Management/human resources and marketing
High School: South Point High School, Rock Hill, South Carolina
What was your favorite part of BSA? My favorite part of the Business Success Academy experience was networking mainly with corporate partners and people in positions where I plan to be in the future. It really took me out of my comfort zone but at the same time made me way more confident in my communication skills.
What did you learn during BSA that changed how you think about business or your future goals? During BSA, I learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I had to get to know so many different people and really get comfortable with going up to people and interacting with them, keep conversations and make personal connections. And that was something that I used to struggle with, but now I feel a lot more confident in that.
What BSA class, workshop or speaker stood out to you and why? The workshop I found the most interesting was Brad Stratton's workshop on how to deliver bad news. It really educated me on the order of how to do it and how to be effective when delivering news that isn't so fortunate. We actually got to practice in real time and get in groups and present bad news to our BSA friends.
How did BSA help you grow, either personally, academically or professionally? Through Business Success Academy, I grew by really pushing myself out my comfort zone. I also grew my LinkedIn profile — I learned how to write a post and get connections through LinkedIn by networking.
As an incoming freshman for fall 2025, why did you decide to participate in the Moore School’s Rising Scholars program? I decided to do Rising Scholars because it felt like a program that was literally made for me. I really love surrounding myself around high achievers, and I always say that if I'm the smartest person in the room, I do not want to be in that room. And so being around people who are better than me in some areas and that will help me improve is something that I love to do. And I'm hoping that it will expand my network and also expand my education.
What are your future goals and how did BSA influence your plans? My future goal is to be an HR manager or brand marketer, and the BSA program influenced those goals by having us interact with a lot of people in HR. It really inspired me, especially at Krispy Kreme, meeting Christopher Bylone, who has dedicated his role to diversity, which is a cause that is really important to me.
What advice would you give to a future student thinking about applying to the Business Success Academy? My piece of advice I would give to a Business Success Academy student applying in the future would definitely be please, please, please network and get to know your peers because everyone in that room is going to be someone, especially if you made it this far. So, definitely get to know people and stay connected with everyone you meet.
incoming Moore School freshman and Rising Scholar for fall 2025
High School: Carolina Forest High School, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Major: Business
What was your favorite part of BSA? My favorite part of BSA was listening to all of the successful people speak because I've learned so much from them. My favorite part was definitely when the alumni and donors, Mark Khalil, ’78 marketing, and Lloyd Johnson, ’80 accounting and finance, ’81 MACC, came to speak to us. They are both in situations that I want to be in whenever I'm older, so it was very influential.
What did you learn during BSA that changed how you think about business or your future goals? I've just been very motivated because people, like the alumni and donors that came in, started in situations like me. Started as just young kids going to the University of South Carolina. It's just very motivational, and I've learned that I can go as far as I want to in life.
What BSA class, workshop or speaker stood out to you and why? Whenever Mark Khalil came in and spoke to us downstairs at the Sonoco Pavilion, he was talking about how he was going to school for marketing. Then he just kept working his way up to eventually becoming the president of Sony, which is just very inspiring to me.
How did BSA help you grow, either personally, academically or professionally? A moment that made me feel inspired during BSA definitely was the Sonoco visit. I was talking to the vice president of Sonoco for a good 10-20 minutes. He just gave me so much information on soft skills, internships, how to apply for internships, and all stuff of that nature.
As an incoming freshman for fall 2025, why did you decide to participate in the Moore School’s Rising Scholars program? I wanted to be a part of the Rising Scholars Program because I just wanted to be able to network and talk to a bunch of people. I feel like this program has allowed me to do that. Already, even before college started, I've met so many people.
What are your future goals and how did BSA influence your plans? I'm looking to start a career path of sales. I've talked to so many people who have done the same thing. Someone in Lake City literally followed my exact same path of going into medical sales and doing stuff of that nature. It was just very informative to talk to her, and she taught me so much.
What advice would you give to a future student thinking about applying to the Business Success Academy? I would definitely say, “If you are looking to apply for the Business Success Academy, do it. It is very informative, and you learn so much doing it. It's definitely been worth my time.
Rising high school senior
High School: Academy for the Arts, Science & Technology, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
What was your favorite part of BSA? My favorite part of BSA has definitely been the fun afternoon activities, like going to the Charlotte Knights baseball game and going bowling because it helped me and my peers really connect, and we got to wind down and just relax after a long day of learning and networking.
What did you learn during BSA that changed how you think about business or your future goals? I definitely have changed how I think about my future since BSA. I used to think that I wanted to do international business, but since taking some of these classes, I'm really, really interested in accounting and the finance aspect of business rather than the international side.
What BSA class, workshop or speaker stood out to you and why? I think the workshop we took on finding your passion and your purpose from Cynthia Simpson-Obioha stood out to me most because it taught me that everybody's goals can change and that it's going to take a while to find your passion, but that once you find it, you should just go for it and it's going to set up your life for success and happiness.
How did BSA helped you grow, either personally, academically or professionally? The program has helped me grow by, again, showing me that everybody's going to be changing what they're interested in and also that you can end up in a certain career that you did not expect at all.
What are your future goals and how did BSA influence your plans? Like a lot of the HR representatives at some of the corporations we visited, they said that they never thought they'd end up in HR doing what they're doing, but they love it, and it's okay to switch up what you think you want to do and to take that risk.
What advice would you give to a future student thinking about applying to the Business Success Academy? I would definitely say: if you're going to go to BSA, pay attention to the classes and really learn from them. This isn't like school where you can sleep in the back. You really should take notes and take everything, every piece of advice that they give you, and grow and learn from it because it will set you up for success in the future.
Rising high school senior
High School: Academy for the Arts, Science & Technology, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
What was your favorite part of BSA? My favorite part of the Business Success Academy definitely was the classes we were taught. The international business class really showed me that I'm really interested in international business, because you can connect with people from different backgrounds and cultures and you can understand them better. And it lets you think about how everybody has a different experience, and you might think this means something to you, but to someone from another place it might mean something completely different.
What did you learn during BSA that changed how you think about business or your future goals? In all honesty, rather than changing it, it has further helped me know that I'm truly interested in business and that I do want to do supply chain and international business for these same classes we were taught. So, it didn't really change it, but it helped me know what my passion is and what I truly want to do for my future.
What BSA class, workshop or speaker stood out to you and why? There were two speakers who actually stood out the most to me. One was Cynthia Simpson-Obioha — the session on passion and knowing your purpose in life and what you want to do. I learned it's OK if you don't know what you want to do, and it's OK to change your mind about things. The other one was Michael “Boot Camp” Thomas, because he teaches you how to manage your time, knows that your time on earth is limited and you got to make the most out of it when you have the opportunity to, because many people don't have the opportunity.
How did BSA help you grow, either personally, academically or professionally? Before coming to the camp, I was not a person who could network easily, but it helped me grow and network more with people, to be able to talk to them. I can talk to adults, go up to them, ask them questions, ask for feedback when I do. I was able to make more friends, talk to people, and I was also able to learn journaling skills that I could not do before BSA.
What advice would you give to a future student thinking about applying to the Business Success Academy? One advice I'd give a future student applying for BSA is definitely take the risk. Apply for it, and if you hopefully get in, make the most out of it. You get experiences that not many people get in the world, like third-world countries. They don't have anything close to what you guys can have, and it's just something that truly enlightens your knowledge and opens your eyes as to what comes in the future.
So, you mentioned that you eventually maybe want to go into business for yourself and expand IB internationally. Do you have a specific business in mind for that? Yes, actually. So, my father actually owns a business that focuses on transportation. So, it'd be logistics and what I'm studying. He transports medicine for the biggest pharmacies in Guatemala and throughout all the country. And then my mom has a cleaning service, and I could combine both businesses as well and be able to help them grow more. For example, my mom in the U.S. can be a bigger company, cleaning for bigger companies or things like that, because that's her passion. And for my father, transportation could expand to other countries like the United States and things like that.