Giving Back, Teaching at MHS
By Jason Moffitt, MHS Senior Division English Teacher
I have a special connection to Milton Hershey School. My sister’s children are all MHS graduates. I always wanted to be a teacher here, but my path was a little different. I was a teen parent and joined the United States Marines after high school. After completing my service in the Marine Corps, I went to college for a year. Juggling a full course load, playing college football, and managing my family commitments to my wife and sons was tough, so I left school and worked for about 20 years.
When my youngest son was in his senior year of college, I decided to return to college to complete my degree and earn my teaching certification. There was nowhere else I wanted to teach except MHS. I recognize the benefits the school provides for its students, and especially what it had done for my family. I wanted to give back to the MHS community, and here I am teaching Senior Division English.
Being a teacher at MHS is special because we are working with students that are sometimes disenfranchised in our nation. I have the opportunity to help those students recognize and realize their dreams when otherwise, had they not attended MHS, they may not have that opportunity or the hope for better possibilities. This community fosters belief and encouragement that they can become whatever it is that they truly work to become.
The mission and community are very important elements of the MHS recipe. As a teacher, it’s important to get involved in other ways, whether it’s coaching, being an advisor for groups such as Student Government Association (SGA), or something as small as chaperoning an event. Whatever way it may be, getting involved and becoming part of the community is essential. I coach football and serve as the advisor for 9th-grade SGA.
Through this involvement and being a teacher, there are moments every day where I have an opportunity to help students. I think that is our mission. We are here not to serve ourselves, but to help others. There have been many moments in my years as a teacher here where I have had students thank me, or I received a card from a student saying, “Mr. Moffitt, thank you for this or that.” And I didn’t realize I had done anything. It’s just being who I am.
That’s the center of MHS. We are all here to add value to our community, every day, in whatever ways we can, even when we don’t realize our actions are having a direct impact.
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