Milton Hershey School outlines plans for first childhood resource center

Milton Hershey School expects to finish its first of six early childhood resource centers in the spring of 2023.

Last month, the Hershey-based private boarding school announced that it would be naming the new centers, funded through a $350 million investment with the Hershey Trust Co., after Milton Hershey’s wife, Catherine Hershey.

Milton Hershey School (MHS) has been well at work preparing for its first Catherine Hershey School (CHS), to be located on the Milton Hershey School campus and plans to open the first center in two years.

The initiative, which would build learning centers for children under the age of five and offer support for their families such as job skills, was approved in October by the Orphans’ Court Division of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas.

Pete Gurt, president of both Milton and Catherine Hershey Schools, said that locating the first of its early childhood resource centers on the MHS campus will also provide opportunities for MHS students interested in early childhood education.

“It’ll be close to campus to ensure appropriate synergy,” Gurt said. “It will also allow for our students interested in early childhood education to have the opportunity to have authentic work experiences at the center and lay the foundation for them if they want to continue working in early childhood education.”

The main difference between the two schools, other than age, is that the Catherine Hershey Schools will not be residential programs like MHS. Instead, the schools will partner with community organizations in their region to provide resources such as access to health care, job access and more.

Students of CHS will have the opportunity to enroll into MHS, but according to Gurt, not all students may need the support that MHS provides after their time at CHS.

“As we help and support their families of origin, some may not need to come to MHS and we will certainly consider that a success,” he said.

Currently MHS plans to open its second CHS location in Harrisburg sometime in 2024. Gurt said that the school’s board of managers has yet to pinpoint where that school will be and plans to name the locations for the other four schools within the next 12 to 18 months.

Each center is designed to serve 150 children and employ between 60 and 80 staff members.

Gurt said the centers will use similar methods that MHS uses in addressing the whole needs of its students such as their cognitive, social and emotional needs.

“Treating a child as a whole human being and ensuring that their needs on all of those fronts are addressed, is a lesson that we have learned through MHS and expect to carry to Catherine Hershey,” he said