Milton Hershey School Celebrates Annual Founders Feast and Senior Pinning Ceremony

The importance of accountability and its ability to make someone legendary was the theme of Milton Hershey School’s 2025 Founders Feast, an annual tradition in which all students and houseparents gather at the Hershey Lodge to enjoy food and fellowship while kicking off Founders Week.  

The MHS School Pledge, which is the focus of the 2025-26 school year theme Our Pledge, is a guide to accountability, President Pete Gurt ’85 said during his keynote address. Through the Pledge, members of the MHS community use “I” statements to commit to keeping their standards high. 

“You can’t say the Pledge without ‘I,’ which turns accountability into i-count-ability,” President Gurt said. “I count and I have the ability to become legendary.” 

Gurt told the students that mistakes will occur, but they have a responsibility to garner wisdom from those moments and improve. 

At the feast, each students received  a card asking them to reflect on what they will hold themselves accountable for and achieve before the end of the year, and to identify a champion who will help them. To gain inspiration, they watched a video featuring MHS students and alumni who identified their champion and succeeded thanks to their support.  

The students were also inspired by the attendance of MHS Board of Managers Chairman Maria Kraus ’89, who was the keynote speaker at the next day’s Founders Day Assembly and enjoyed the feast’s meal with Senior Division students. Kraus has more than 25 years of experience and leadership in finance, strategy, and corporate development. She is a Certified Public Accountant and qualifies as a financial expert, as defined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Wedgewood Pharmacy.  

“Fifth graders, she came at your age, scared, not sure what Milton Hershey School would do with her and what it would do in her life, but now she is incredibly successful and gives back every day to this Hershey mission.” President Gurt said.  

President Gurt reminded students that MHS faculty and staff are there to guide them. Founders Week celebrates the signing of the school’s Deed of Trust on Nov. 15, 1909. Milton and Catherine Hershey created what was then Hershey Industrial School to help children, and it was made possible from the proceeds he earned from the Hershey Chocolate Company. Mr. Hershey’s initial business ventures were not successful, but others helped push him to be the legend he became. 

“Mr. Hershey surrounded himself with people who believed in him, who he inspired to be, and who held him accountable,” President Gurt said. “We are here today because he valued the people who held him accountable.” 

President Gurt also showcased another champion of MHS students, Mrs. Jane Gurt, who donates her time to numerous leadership programs and community-building initiatives. The program also featured performances from the Elementary and Middle Division Choirs from the school’s Visual and Performing Arts Program. 

Senior Pinning Ceremony

Following Founders Feast, the MHS Class of 2026 was dismissed and transported to the school’s annual Senior Pinning Ceremony. The Senior Pin is a tradition that dates back to 1937, when students received a pin to mark their 17th birthday and their final year at the school. The tradition evolved to the Senior Pin in 1970 when the MHS Deed of Trust was revised to allow students to stay at the school until they completed high school. 

“Today, you will receive your Senior Pin as a celebration of your own milestone within your senior year,” Susanna Compare ’18, special liaison to President Gurt, told the class. “This pin connects you to every student who has stood where you stand now, past and present, each one of you a part of the Hersheys’ legacy.”  

Compare encouraged the students to wear the pin with pride and allow it to remind them that they are the student body’s leadership. 

“Most importantly, let it symbolize your choice,” she said. “Your choice to rise above challenges, your choice to choose accountability over complacency, your choice to represent MHS with honor, your choice to carry gratitude in your heart and purpose in your steps, and your choice to leave behind a legacy that will make our founders proud.” 

The pins’ connection to MHS alumni and the school was further illustrated as they received the pin from members of the Milton Hershey School Alumni Association.