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My MHS BlogCategory: Houseparents and Home Life

How I’m Building Relationships with First-Year Students

By Tanya Alfonso, MHS Home Life Administrator First-year newly enrolled MHS students in first through fourth grade have the distinct advantage of participating in the MHS co-pilot program. Adult staff...

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Connecting Home Life to the Classroom: Creating a Nurturing Learning Environment to Call Home

When students enroll at Milton Hershey School, they’re not only receiving a top-notch education. They’re joining a safe, nurturing community that feels like a second home, through the school’s Home...

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Welcome Back: Gathering Around the Table

By Erica Clark, an MHS houseparent The table in our dining room is large. Actually, it’s a group of tables—five to be exact. We placed them together to create one...

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Say What? The Battle Against One-Word Answers

By Clare Olge, an MHS houseparent Have you ever asked a teenage boy about his day?    Regardless of how you phrase the question, it’s typical to get a one-word...

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The Marathon Called Houseparenting

I am not built for running, but I’ve always wanted to be a runner. So through lots of practice, time and effort, I have worked up to running long distances—including...

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Shaking Things Up

By Clare Ogle, an MHS houseparent My husband is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, but he can be a total snob when it comes to milkshakes. He’s...

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There is Always Enough

By Clare Ogle, an MHS houseparent Feeding twelve high school boys, a husband, a toddler and my food-loving infant is no short order. In a week, we typically go through...

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One of These Things is Not Like the Other

By Clare Ogle, an MHS houseparent That’s the comment I heard from a dear friend after posting our student home’s Christmas photo. It’s the first year we have taken a...

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The Moment Everything Changed

By Clare Ogle, an MHS houseparent It’s funny how you can go about living your life and then something happens and everything changes. For us, that moment was about five...

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Tanya Alfonso: Houseparent Trainer

When I look into our students’ eyes, I see a reflection of me from when I was their age. Even though I did not attend MHS, by all accounts I...

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