In today's blog post, we're featuring four couples who work as houseparents at Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Their reasons for pursuing this career are varied, but they all have in common a shared desire to make a difference. Read on to learn what brought these families to the houseparent career at MHS.
When Valerie and Grant were newlyweds, they lived in Chicago, working full time and trying to figure out how to balance their life and a future family. Valerie, previously a teacher, stepped back from the classroom after having their first daughter, while Grant was working in service industries with unpredictable hours. It was time to focus on their growing family, and they discovered a job description that included family time. Jump ahead eight and a half years, the Powers are role models for the boys in their student home and their daughters have more than 12 older brothers they look up to.
“Houseparenting with young kids is appealing because you get to be with your kids and be available to them. For them, they get to live and learn from a variety of people from different backgrounds, cultures, and faiths.”
Retirement was just around the corner for Deepa and Brian when they discovered they weren’t ready to kick up their feet yet! After learning about an opportunity to impact the lives of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, Deepa and Brian moved from Texas, leaving their jobs as an education administrator and corporate executive. MHS was the next chapter of their journey. Today, they use the skills they gained from their previous careers to create a fun, supportive living environment for the girls in their student home. They oversee the logistics of transporting students to and from school and their activities after school while helping them set goals and work to achieve them.
“We use our past experiences to teach students life skills that they can take with them into the future, such as time management, cooperative relationships, and integrity.”
Ashley and Jonathan felt called to grow their family and raise their kids with a sense of purpose. However, they didn’t quite know how this was going to happen. After exploring fostering and adoption, houseparenting at MHS seemed to be the best of both worlds. They could live out their values while investing in the lives of students who need love, care, and support during their time at the school. With young children of their own, the Cains moved from Florida and have been living by example and planting the seeds of what healthy relationships, family dynamics, and a life of service can look like.
“As believers, we try to lead by example. We work with students who have all kinds of different beliefs, and in the end, they know that we are here for them and care for them no matter what.”
Striking the balance between structure and compassion has been vital in Elise and Roger’s houseparent journey. Drawing from their previous work experiences, including Roger in military and police roles, they teach their girls accountability, integrity, and teamwork. Like in most jobs, every day is different and brings unique challenges. However, they have built their family and career in a like-minded community by leaning on each other and reaching out to other houseparent couples for support.
“This job has more support than any other job we have had. We know that if we pick up the phone and press any button, someone will be quick to offer help. It’s really a ‘Hershey family’ of houseparents.”
Houseparents live on the MHS campus full-time and create a home away from home. Over several years, houseparents provide students a stable and nurturing place to live and grow. Houseparents are role models who teach students skills and values outside of the classroom to help them succeed. Each couple works as part of a schoolwide team with over 200 other houseparent couples. Houseparents lean on, learn from, and spend quality time with each other as a supportive and connected community.
Houseparent couples receive a total compensation package worth approximately $150,000. This includes housing, meals while on duty, utilities, a comprehensive benefits package, and a combined pre-tax salary of $85,806.
Interested couples can learn more about full- and part-time houseparent roles by attending an Online Information Session, a virtual opportunity to discuss the role in detail and ask questions live with recruiters. It’s the perfect chance to see if this career could be the right fit for your family.
(This blog post is re-posted on houseparent.com with permission from Milton Hershey School. It first appeared here).
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