The Milton Hershey School is the richest and wealthiest K-12 residential
school in the world. Its $12 billion trust fund, financed by sales of
the iconic Hershey candy, eclipse that of Cornell, Dartmouth, and Johns
Hopkins combined. Even more stunning is that the school for orphans owns
The Hershey Company and not the other way around. As the
twentieth-century drew to a close, the School's Board of Managers
creatively interpreted the Founder's mission and tried to turn the
refuge for extremely needy children into more of a middle-class boarding
school. The alumni "Homeguys" challenged the Board and, after a decade
of legal struggle and national publicity, won the battle to reclaim the
soul of the school. Johnny O'Brien, an orphan who lived at the school
growing up, helped to lead the successful alumni protest. In a shocking
turn of events, he was then selected to become Milton Hershey School's
eighth president and tasked with restoring the mission, morale, and
character-building culture of "the Home." He would need all his orphan
resilience, Princeton and Johns Hopkins wisdom, and his good friends, to
transform this unusual and remarkable school. In a riveting and haunting
account, O'Brien tells a universal story about the vulnerability of
needy children, describes the madness that consumed his beloved brother,
explores the cruelty of bullies--both young and old, exposes the
corrupting influence of money, and shows how the Milton Hershey School
continues its sacred mission of saving thousands of America's neediest
children. See the website for the book at semisweetbook.com.
