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What It Means to Be a “Milt”

By Sabrina, a senior at MHS

Being a senior means moving without stopping. We have so much on our schedule that most days and weeks tend to blur together. All I know is, the day that stands apart from every other day is one I hold close to my heart.

November 12, 2017 is a day I will never forget. I wear a reminder of the day around my neck, hidden beneath my school collar and pressed against my collarbone. It was the day of our Senior Pinning Ceremony where we received necklaces and pins that symbolize our class moving on to the next level. We will soon enter a new role of being proud alumni of Milton Hershey School. We will be the new part of a group that truly bleeds brown and gold—a group of people who are proud of where they came from.

For me, it means so much more. I’ve spent eight years at MHS surrounded by people who continue to tell me I could turn myself into someone I didn’t think I could be. For a while, I was unbelieving. I hated the rules and wanted my ‘freedoms,’ but I didn’t want to pay for the dangers.

My senior necklace represents my growth. It represents the challenges I’ve been through both in and out of school. It represents the people who have changed me and helped me become all that I can be.

Sabrina, an MHS senior

As I sat in the room during the Senior Pinning Ceremony, seated next to alumni, I listened to the speeches passed down to us by our brothers. One speaker said something that had never crossed my mind. He talked about the last time each one of my classmates would be seated together in a room. For the past eight years, we have been recognized as the Class of 2018. We have passed as a class and failed as a class.

Before that day, it had never occurred to me that at this time next year we would no longer wake up every day facing the same people. We would no longer wake up in a place full of individuals who genuinely want what’s best for you. I would no longer be in the MHS bubble—the bubble that not only contains the place I was taught to call home, but the people I will always call family.

I wear my necklace to prove to myself that I am different. I have been pushed to the limit by people who I would have never come to love if it weren’t for the opportunity given to me by Milton and Catherine Hershey. My necklace shows that I am a Milt, and I will never forget that.


Sabrina enrolled at MHS in fifth grade from Lancaster, PA.

Milton Hershey School does not discriminate in admissions or other programs and services on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, religious creed or disability. Read important MHS policies on equal opportunity and diversity, equal employment opportunity, and more.