My Experience as a Senior in the Milton Hershey School Transitional Living Program

By John Ademuwagun, MHS Senior

As seniors at Milton Hershey School, we live in apartment-style buildings, like dorms or residence halls, known as Transitional Living. This program teaches me and my peers valuable life skills and lessons, including how to cook and clean for ourselves, manage finances, and balance independence with responsibility.

In Transitional Living, we live with four to six other students and work together to manage our apartment. We share the responsibilities for cleaning and grocery shopping. Using the monthly stipend we’re given, we shop for groceries and pay utilities such as water, electricity, and gas.

The Transitional Living program requires a higher level of maturity compared to the more structured environment of a student home, where students live pre-K through 11th grade at MHS. In a student home, if someone wasn’t doing their part, it was easy to turn to our houseparents for help. In Transitional Living, however, we have to know how to communicate effectively on our own. At MHS, there are adults who help mediate our conflicts, but that won’t be the case after graduation. Learning these skills now is incredibly valuable.

Even though we don’t have houseparents in Transitional Living, we do have the support of Transitional Living Assistants (TLAs) who guide us during our senior year. TLAs are instrumental in helping us navigate our independence. They hold us accountable, encourage us to stay on track with our responsibilities, and provide personalized guidance. They take the time to understand our strengths and weaknesses and are always there when we need advice or assistance.

TLAs also facilitate team-building activities and review lessons from The Compass Project. These lessons focus on developing interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, which are essential when living with roommates and managing relationships in a shared space.

One of the greatest benefits of the Transitional Living program is having a safe space to get to know your own strengths and areas for growth. For the first time, we set our own schedules and decide how to manage our time. It’s a big adjustment from the more structured life in a student home, but it’s also an incredible opportunity to get to know ourselves better. We learn through trial and error and the natural consequences of our actions.

As I develop practical life skills, I also am mentally preparing for life after graduation. I now have a clear understanding of the habits I need to build to succeed on my own, and I feel significantly more confident in my ability to navigate the future.

The Transitional Living program at MHS has equipped me with the tools I need to succeed, and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn in such a unique environment. As I prepare for graduation and life beyond MHS, I know that the skills, lessons, and memories I’ve gained here will continue to shape my future.