Catherine Hershey School breaks ground on 3rd child care site in central Pa.

The Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning broke ground on its third early childhood education center Wednesday.

The newest location is part of a $350 million investment Milton Hershey School is making to help develop more early childhood education centers across Pa.

“For more than 114 years, Milton and Catherine Hershey’s generosity has enabled thousands of children to reach their fullest potential,” MHS and CHS President Peter Gurt said. “Today’s event celebrates our opportunity to expand on their legacy and work toward impacting the lives of even more children while supporting their families and ultimately strengthening the Middletown and surrounding community.”

The Lower Swatara Township location (1351 Oberlin Road, Middletown) is scheduled to open in 2025. The first Catherine Hershey School debuted in Hershey last October, with a location in Harrisburg scheduled to open this September.

The Catherine Hershey schools provide non-residential, year-round weekday care and education to children, aged from six weeks to five years old, from under-resourced and overburdened backgrounds. All costs are covered for qualifying families.

The school will be equipped with 12 classrooms, an innovation studio, active movement spaces and a STEM garden alongside a Family Success Center to help further the development of the students’ families. CHS Middletown will be a two-story 48,692 square-foot building and plans to serve 150 children from six weeks to five years old.

PennLive was able to learn more about the initiative and just how important these schools are to CHS and MHS leaders, Peter Gurt and Senate Alexander.

Gurt’s ties to the Milton Hershey schools started before he became president. He is also an alum, having enrolled at Milton Hershey in 1972 after his father died. He said the CHS and MHS schools are important to him not only because of his personal connection, but also to further the dreams of Milton and Catherine Hershey.

“We have done a lot of research and realized that brain development is so important during the early years of a child’s life,” Gurt said. “CHS hopes to shape these children for opportunities of success and to further the natural expansion of Milton and Catherine Hershey’s vision.”

Senate Alexander was also a student at Milton Hershey School, graduating in 2006 coming from an impoverished background. Alexander is now the first Executive Director of Catherine Hershey Schools. He shared that the school will be equipped with the resources to be able to service a large variety of students and their communities.

Alexander added that the school will be capable of helping students with special needs.

“We will have speech and physical therapists, who will be able to provide support for students with autism and other special needs”

CHS Middletown will be run by Jessica Knaub who has over 20 years of experience working in early childhood education. The school is also looking to hire more employees in their family success, scholastic and leadership departments. Selected individuals will participate in a nearly year-long professional development program to help them succeed in their work with the school.

The Catherine Hershey School is still planning to open locations in Lancaster City, New Danville and Elizabethtown, which are all anticipated to open in 2026. More information on the efforts of the school, hiring and their future plans can be found on their website.

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