Milton Hershey School

The Milton Hershey School, formerly the Hershey Industrial School, is a private boarding school in Hershey, Pennsylvania for K–12 students. The institution was founded in 1909 by chocolate industrialist Milton Hershey and his wife, Catherine Hershey. The school began with four students in 1910. Initially, for only white male orphans, the school expanded in the 1960s and 1970s to include girls, racial minorities, and "social orphans"—those with impoverished parents. About 2,000 students attended the school in 2020. Admission is restricted to low-income individuals aged 4–15 who do not have intellectual or behavioral problems. Students live in group homes of uniform sex and similar age, with set schedules for elementary, middle, and high school students. The school has Christian elements but is officially non-sectarian. The school is free for students and is funded by a trust containing most of Hershey's fortune, valued at about US$15 billion, making it the wealthiest U.S. private school. Nearly half of the trust's money comes from its controlling interest in Hershey's eponymous chocolate company.