Transitional Living

Cultivating student success

Milton Hershey School, the largest residential school of its kind, has launched an innovative program called Transitional Living for students who are preparing to graduate.

This program enables students to live in a semi-autonomous fashion and adds to Milton Hershey School's array of programs and services designed to prepare its graduates for lifelong success. The goal is to provide the next level of independence for students, better preparing them for independent living post-graduation.

Seniors, who previously lived in student homes with a set of houseparents, now have the opportunity to live in apartment style residences with support from residential living staff members. Seniors have the opportunity to enhance and practice life skills necessary for living on their own. The program's organization allows an experiential environment where students regularly make decisions involving the use of practical skills such as, money and time management. Students are offered experiences that enable them to enhance their skills in planning, shopping for and cooking meals, handling the chores associated with caring for their own apartment, and the necessary social skills, which enable life success. These are activities that occur within the continued safety and care of the residential school.

Transitional Living staff members are responsible for partnering with students to help effectively manage the blend of independence and responsibility. In addition to ensuring that student residences are managed in a safe, structured and orderly fashion, they also collaborate extensively with the students individually to help them build on their strengths and develop new skills for greater life-preparedness. The staff members must have exceptional skills in residential education, experiential education and in acting in the roles of teacher, mentor, collaborator, facilitator and guide to adolescent/young adults using a strength-based philosophy. Experience in asset-based schooling or community initiatives is also preferred.

The Transitional Living model was initially piloted with two separate cohorts of students over the last two years. It has met with such success that it is being expanded for all MHS Seniors. Therefore, additional Transitional Living Staff members are needed. Positions in Transitional Living are anticipated to be posted on the MHS web-site during the first quarter of 2007 with staff members hired to start for the 2007-2008 School year.