Xavier Oliver ’18
For Xavier Oliver ’18, returning to Milton Hershey School feels like a gift, an opportunity that words fall short of describing. The MHS campus is where some of his most profound relationships began, and it is where lessons he still holds close took shape.
Today, the campus and community that gave him so much continue to offer new ways to make an impact; only now, he is giving back in many of the same ways others once invested in him.
That full-circle experience is especially evident on the football field, where he mentors student-athletes alongside one of his former coaches, Jimmy Taylor.
“I want to give what I have back to the kids,” Oliver said. “If I know what football did for me, I know it can do the same for another child.”
Oliver’s MHS story began in 2012, when he enrolled as a sixth grader from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Having lost his father at a young age and with his mother experiencing significant health challenges, leaving home was difficult. Adjusting to a new environment took time, but support from his houseparents and the relationships he formed with other students helped MHS become an incredibly special place.
“We became brothers,” Oliver said of his housemates and friends. “I still talk to those guys to this day. It was an awesome opportunity to make a brotherhood that you really can’t break.”
Those relationships helped Oliver find belonging, and so did football. The sport gave him structure, motivation, and a community. Older players modeled accountability and leadership, and, as Oliver grew, he learned to provide that same example for younger teammates.
“I learned a lot, especially discipline,” Oliver said of football’s influence on his MHS experience.
Football also connected him to the generations of Spartans who came before him. He remembers watching the Cocoa Bean game as a younger student and wanting to one day be on the field himself. When that day came, he understood that he was becoming part of a tradition much larger than himself.
“This is history,” Oliver recalled thinking. “This is what our older MHS brothers did, and this is what we get to do now.”
That respect for tradition, along with the perseverance and service that have defined Oliver’s journey, reflects the spirit of the 2026-27 school year theme, Spartan Fame, in a powerful way. But Spartan Fame is not defined by what happens at MHS alone. For Oliver, it meant carrying that foundation into the life he would build beyond his time as a student.
After graduating from MHS in 2018, Oliver attended Kutztown University, where he played football and developed an interest in social work and mental health. He graduated in 2023 and gained professional experience in family-based therapy before another MHS alumnus connected him with an opportunity at Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning.
As a CHS Family Success Advocate, Oliver partners with parents and connects families with educational and health services to help ensure they have a strong network of support. The work is deeply personal and especially rewarding, echoing the network of care he experienced at MHS.
“I was given an opportunity to have a stable, structured family,” Oliver said of his time at MHS. “That allowed me to work on myself and find out who I am,“
The cycle of receiving, growing, and returning to serve is what it means to add to Spartan Fame in Oliver’s life. It does not require a grand gesture. Sometimes, it is a conversation, encouragement, or simply choosing to be present for someone who needs it.
“A small, positive interaction could change a whole person’s day or week. You just never know,“ Oliver said.
Oliver once arrived at MHS uncertain about leaving what was most familiar to him. Now, through his work with CHS families and on the football field, he has found purpose in creating the kind of impact that once made a difference in his own life.
This is what happens when a legacy becomes something you not only inherit, but help carry forward. This is Spartan Fame.