Just read this on a blog...
An "outsider" describing her first visit to MHS:
So what exactly is the [Milton] Hershey school? And why does it exist?
Believe it or not, I have waited to write this post because I was really trying to wrap my head around the best way to describe it. Have you ever seen something that was so fantastic, so wonderful, so interesting and meaningful that you doubted you'd really be able to convey the full experience to someone who hadn't been there?
My trip to the Milton Hershey school was sort of like that.
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I was so moved to hear someone describe their first exposure to the school like that. 
The rest can be read at:
in 1958 when MHS was presented to me, I felt the same way. That lasted about 1 week. Then 6 years of Washington, DC and 1 year of joy. In the end the 1 year almost balances out the terrible first 6 years. Perception and reality are 2 completely different things.
great story
The only Washington, DC I endured was in my own mind. I thought the world was against me as a teenager. I had great houseparents in intermediate, and idiots in Sr. Div., but they were harmless, just simply didn't know how to impart the care and love kids at that age needed. (they should not have been houseparents)So I would have to say that Milton Hershey School was Heaven... I created my own Washington, DC. I didn't know how to "accept", for me growing up that always meant something horrible was to soon follow... I screwed up the best thing in my own life... I almost made it to graduation, wish I would have stuck it out that last year..