Milton Hershey School Students Embrace Career Opportunities
At Milton Hershey School, every student has the opportunity to grow their passions and learn about career opportunities that exist for them. Each year, a select group of high school students get to take part in a four-week internship where they get hands-on experience in a career field of their interest. These students are assigned to departments across MHS or an organization within the community such as Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R).
This summer—in addition to offering internships to 36 MHS students—HE&R hosted MHS students for a job shadow experience at several of their attractions and resorts. This event allowed MHS students to meet with HE&R team members from departments including safety & security, maintenance, communications, food & beverage, marketing, and more.
“Hershey Entertainment & Resorts was thrilled to welcome more than 50 MHS students from its Year-Round Experiences (YRE) program,” shared Kathleen McGraw, managing director of corporate communications & community relations at HE&R. “More than three dozen team members shared their professional journeys and advice with the students. It was wonderful having the students at Hershey Lodge, Giant Center and Hersheypark for the career exploration events.”
Students who took part in the job shadow event at Giant Center got a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to execute a successful season for the Hershey Bears. The students learned about how the hockey team scouts its players, creates marketing promotions, works with sponsors, and feeds more than 10,000 fans per game.
The job shadow students in attendance weren’t the only ones who gained new experience this summer. Many of the MHS interns assigned to HE&R had the opportunity to present about the departments they worked with and all that they learned during their internships.
“Presenting to YRE students offered great experience in public speaking and an opportunity to practice forming my message to fit the audience—two things I learned about as a communications intern with HE&R,” shared Donovan Brown, MHS junior. “We talked about the design process behind the celebration of Milton Hershey’s birthday. I shared how the communications department would make social media posts to try and get good attendance to the event and how the Business/Financial Management and Accounting career pathway at MHS prepared me for this internship.”
To conclude the two-day job shadow event, students spent a few hours reflecting on what they learned while enjoying an afternoon at Hersheypark. This is not the end of their career exploration process, though. These students will be able to explore many more career opportunities before graduating from MHS and taking the first step into post-graduate life.