Catherine Hershey Schools Opens New Middletown Center, Expanding Access to Early Childhood Education

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AIRED; August 11, 2025

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The Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning (CHS) marked a major milestone with the grand opening of its newest location in Middletown — the third of six planned centers in Pennsylvania.

For Senate Alexander, Executive Director of CHS and a Milton Hershey School graduate, the opening is deeply personal.
“It’s a special moment for me personally as an MHS graduate… to now bring this program that’s needed to another community,” Alexander said. “We’ll be able to serve almost 450 children next year.”

The new CHS Middletown location will provide care and education for 150 children, adding to the 300 already served at CHS centers in Hershey and Harrisburg. Designed with a unique touch, the facility includes 25,000 square feet of outdoor play space. “This particular plot used to be a farm,” Alexander explained. “Now we’re transforming it into high-quality early childhood education for a community that needs it.”

CHS operates as a subsidiary of Milton Hershey School, established to extend its mission to children from birth to age five. The idea emerged after MHS recognized both its resources and a critical statewide need. “There is a huge access issue here in Pennsylvania and across the country when it comes to high-quality early childhood education,” Alexander said. “We saw this as an opportunity to help our earliest learners thrive.”

The school’s name honors Catherine Hershey, whom Alexander credits as the driving force behind the original Milton Hershey School in 1909. “It was her idea… she cared deeply about giving children a home and a school,” he noted. Catherine even signed the deed of trust — a rare move for a woman at that time. “She had such a nurturing nature and kind soul,” Alexander added. “Naming this school after her is exactly what she would have wanted.”

With additional locations planned in New Danville, Elizabethtown, and Lancaster City, CHS aims to serve hundreds more children across Dauphin and Lancaster counties in the coming years.