The Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania strives to provide a “structured home life year-round” for students from low-income families living in unsafe environments. Photo Provided

WHEELING — The famous Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania is actively recruiting students from the Wheeling area.

Founded in 1909 by candy mogul Milton Hershey and his wife Catherine, the school strives to provide a “structured home life year-round” for students from low-income families living in unsafe environments.

Prospective students and families are invited to a free informational event and dinner in Wheeling with MHS admissions counselors. The family event is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, March 21, at Perkins Restaurant and Bakery on National Road in Wheeling.

There are 2,119 students presently enrolled at MHS in grades kindergarten through 12, with about 40 coming from West Virginia, according to Scott Gregory, admission counselor at the school.

He said about 20 of the students come from the Martinsburg area, while there is presently one attending there from Wheeling.

To be considered for the free school, the student must come from a family whose household income is below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Families may start the process of enrolling their child when they turn four, though MHS accepts no new students after age 16.

“There is an academic criteria,” Gregory said. “Students have to be able to function in the regular classroom, and be free of behavioral problems.”

This is because MHS is not designed or equipped to handle students with mental health issues, he explained. The school is also not intended for those involved with the juvenile justice system.

Gregory describes the typical MHS student as one “whose family looks at Hershey for opportunities they are not able to provide because of the costs.”

“They may come to us because of safety issues,” he said. “They may live in neighborhoods with violence, or where there is a lot of drug and alcohol activity. Many also are being cared for by a grandparent because a parent has drug and alcohol issues.”

“They come from really urban areas, and really rural areas. There is no single profile. ”

The common thread the students all have is “resiliency, and the desire to do something different.”

Gregory said 85 to 90 percent of MHS graduates go on to post-secondary education. He explained college becomes possible for the students as they have the opportunities to earn as much as $95,000 in scholarship money to pay for a four-year degree.

Hershey donated his fortune to the school and provided for the scholarships.

“As long as a student maintains his or her grades, exhibits good behavior and doesn’t make bad choices (they receive scholarship money),” Gregory said. “If they are struggling in class, help is available to them so they don’t endanger their scholarship money.”

Students must maintain at least a high C average to receive the money, he said.

MHS is funded by the Hershey company, and isn’t considered a charter school, according to Gregory. It receives no state or federal funding.

Operations at the school are overseen by a board of managers, and the school’s president is in charge of day-to-day operations.

Students live on campus, with the school year beginning in early August and extending into June.

Gregory explained the school has longer breaks at Thanksgiving and Christmas time, and students can pick up to five weekends during the school year to return home.

The school has buses that take students home throughout the region, and the last stop on its route is Washington, Pennsylvania.

Gregory said MHS believes the bus would be accommodating to parents in the Wheeling area who would be reluctant to travel four hours to pick up their child, but who would be more agreeable to picking them up 45 minutes away in Washington.

While they do get free admission to the nearby Hershey Park amusement park, life for students at MHS, however, isn’t all about sugar and sweet things, according to Gregory.

“There is not a free-flowing river of chocolate running through campus,” he said. “The children here have a very healthy diet.”