MHS, a home or just a high school?
Is this a hard question? I think not. We all came to MHS for different reasons. Some of us were orphans. Some of us were saved from destructive paths. Some of us had bad parents. Some of us had no real reason to be there other then being abandoned. What a melding pot of fortune or misfortune. The common thread was we were all students of MHS.
The school was my home. I only had a mother and two sisters and she was left with nothing but a 33 cent an hour job after my father committed suicide. No life insurance and no money in the bank. I ran the streets from 10 years old and was arrested 11 times (auto theft, B&E, shoplifting, ect.) before my twelfth birthday. MHS saved me from Jamesburg Detention Center (reform school).
My experiences at MHS ran the gambit from bad to great. I went to MHS as a nonconformist and malcontent. I continued that attitude after entering the Home for a few years. I never bullied nor was I ever bullied. I eventually realized, to have fun and get ahead at the Home, I had to play the game. I conformed and excelled during my high school years.
So Yes, MHS was my home. I had 3 sets of house parents while at MHS. The first set were just ok. The second set were the Hitlers of HPs. My last set were sent by God to look over us kids. They were new HPs and not tarnished. They ran our home with love and understanding. I owe what little sanity I had at MHS to them.
We all had different experiences and we all have a 1000 different stories, but that is b/c it was more then just a high school. It was our lives while we attended. They did everything a parent was suppose to do, though sometimes not very good.
We all have each other and to me that makes a family. Dysfunctional at times, but still a family. 
unc
I would have to say it was a second home. Life at home was good to, not abusive in any way. My mom was just poor that's all and the school in my county sucked like the big buttages!!
Probably the ones you'll hear from are the ones that did think of the milt as home. But unfortunately there are alot of people out there that don't look back because of there experiences with houseparents and administrators and the ones who suffer are us because we are missing our brothers and sisters.
All - I want to thank you all for sharing your stories!
Milthood forever!
PS
88 rules
The Milt was my home. I still feel a connection to the people I went to school with, though I haven't seen many in a number of yrs. Being at the Milt was an unique experience that I often didn't appreciate while attending. Though I didn't graduate from the Milt(1yr to go)I was there for 9 1/2yrs, and there is no place like it. I look forward to coming back this yr for the first time in 20yrs.
It was a home to me with good memories and bad. It was truly a learning experience that has shaped my life in many ways.
like we are at Woodstock.....
lol
I the new friendships I have made here! Yes Heather, you REEALLY need to get that book started sooner then later, you don't want to be too old, to spend all the money you're going to make selling it!!! Besides if you wait too long you will forget the details, then it will just be fiction and loose it's punch!
Elton John's "Can you feel the love tonight?" You guys are throwing around like we are at Woodstock.....
I may have to steal some more of your material if ever I become motivated to write that book that Linda thinks I'm sitting on. That will give me something to do as I grow old alone 
Knitting just isn't my thing, ya know? Sharing similar backgrounds in part is why I think we've connected so well. We should've done it sooner...but better now than never, right Linda. I you girls! A special friend of course, just clarifying that for those of you that don't know...
is really starting to look suspiciously suspicious!!!!!!
I am always doing that! I may have to steal some more of your material if ever I become motivated to write that book that Linda thinks I'm sitting on. That will give me something to do as I grow old alone Knitting just isn't my thing, ya know?
Sharing similar backgrounds in part is why I think we've connected so well. We should've done it sooner...but better now than never, right Linda. I you girls! A special friend of course, just clarifying that for those of you that don't know...
Stop stealing my material!!!!!! 
Seriously, but for one minor part, I could say "ditto".
I left thinking I will make my own family blah! blah! blah! Didn't really realize how lucky I was until I got older. I left thinking I would never look back. Until a Milt. forced my head to turn back. I am greatful she did and am thankful to have so many brothers and sisters. Even today I continue to have more family with not only the Milts. I knew but with each new Milt. and the ones before me. There is a special connection that no one but us could understand. I can't even explain it to people. I truely feel very Honored to be a MILT.
Linda and Unc. Thank you, it makes a girl feel good knowing that I have good friends by my side. And I appreciate you saying so!
I am not going to get into all the particulars but I spent 8yrs at the Milt and I am sure like everyone else I had my ups and downs while at school. But I cant begin to tell you how grateful I am that my dad put me in for whatever the reasons may be, I have so many great memories that outway any negative or bad times that I am sure I brought upon myself in some crazy way.
The friends and bonds that I made at the school I will never forget, so I will have to say it was home to me.
You did good Heather, and your kids are blessed to have you, and whether you believe it or not, I think they know they are blessed because you are their mother. ya girl
of you too.
unc
and even though I was only there 5 short years... it was the longest I had lived any where. I had a pretty normal life until I was 7...when my parents divorced and my dad moved back to Pa..to be with his family. My world soon turned upside down... from ages 7-13 I lived a life that would make most people cringe. I experienced abuse that most can't even imagine. And when my step father finally beat my mother and left her for dead in the parking lot of a busy strip mall...my grandparents took us and put us in hiding until we found my dad and Milton Hershey. It was the only "home" I really knew. The only place I remember feeling safe. And so even to this day I feel at home there. I thank God everyday for not only what Milton and Catherine Hershey provided for me...but more over what they have provided my children. And that is a mother who loves them with all her heart... it taught me that I don't have to play the victim (even though as a child I didn't have that choice) I am who I choose to be... and that will never be the victim. But rather a young girl who was given the opportunity overcome what I knew, to choose to break the cycle and to become a woman that my children, my friends and family are proud of.
I know I have said this too many times already....but every time I read stuff like this I realize how great a thing I gave up by getting out instead of graduating. I am jealous of you guys.
of my 18 1/2 years of life....that meant that I only lived somewhere else for 4 1/2 years.....I made countless friends, experienced all of my "firsts" except for my first steps and first words...which because my mom REALLY had no use for me, I am sure she wasn't even present for those monumental moments, and probably couldn't even tell me what my first word was. So all of my other firsts....first crush, first kiss, first date, first places in diving, first solo, first best friend, first dance,etc, was had at Milton Hershey School. So yes I would say it is and was a home to me. I have always lived with in 20 minutes of the school since I graduated, 17 years ago, mostly because I have held a job of some sort there since I graduated, but also because I consider Hershey my home, my stomping grounds.
and family to go with it...good and bad.
It was my home from August 1984 through June 1, 1987.
Like any home and any family there were countless ups and downs...But it was my home nonetheless.
You big sap!
THAT WAS GREAT!
Probably the ones you'll hear from are the ones that did think of the milt as home. But unfortunately there are alot of people out there that don't look back because of there experiences with houseparents and administrators and the ones who suffer are us because we are missing our brothers and sisters.
All - I want to thank you all for sharing your stories!
Milthood forever!
PS
88 rules