Milton Hershey School: The School Built on Abundant Opportunities

Milton S. Hershey once said, “If we had helped a hundred children it would have all been worthwhile.” Milton Hershey School (MHS) is a home and school for students from low income that provides the necessities of life and more. The school has now grown to have helped more than 11,000 graduates and I am on my way to become one of them.

I have been impacted greatly by all that MHS has done for me. August 11, 2014, a day that will always be engraved into my heart, is the day that I enrolled at MHS as a fourth grader. This was the first of many opportunities the school has gifted me. In the fourth grade, I got to play the drums, which I loved to do—something my family could not afford.

In middle school, I got to do so much more. I participated in choir, track and field, tried out for musicals, and even got my first job during my eighth-grade summer. I went on vacation and met the higher-ups at MHS. All opportunities that I would not find anywhere else.

In high school, I found a lot of my passions. I started taking dance classes and joined New Horizons (a show choir). I participated in Model UN, the Student Government Association, and worked at The Project Market. I was also given the opportunity to go to a college camp for a week and intern on the Communications & Corporate Relations team at Hershey Entertainment & Resorts in The Hershey Press Building, all because of the school.

The abundant opportunities at MHS are infinite. I was never afraid to ask because the worst answer was “no,” and the staff at MHS always encouraged me. MHS gave me a home, friends, and life-long connections. All opportunities that I would never have received anywhere else. MHS will always give you the tools to live; you just have to know how to use them.