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Hershey Family Foundation’s Transformational Gift Strengthens Montessori Education

Hershey Family Foundation’s Transformational Gift Strengthens Montessori Education

Feb 6, 2025 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

Concord & Huntsburg, OH — Hershey Montessori School joyfully announces a generous $300,000 gift from The Hershey Family Foundation in support of the school’s educational programs, services, and daily operations. This gift nurtures the foundation of Montessori education, empowering children and adolescents to develop as capable, compassionate, and engaged global citizens.

Since its founding in 1978, Hershey Montessori School has provided authentic Montessori environments where learning is seamlessly integrated with purposeful work and community engagement. Serving students from Ohio, across the U.S., and around the world, the school’s two campuses—Concord (infant to age 12) and Huntsburg (ages 12-18 including a boarding program) — offer a fully immersive Montessori experience from birth to adulthood.

With heartfelt gratitude, the Hershey Montessori community celebrates this meaningful partnership. The foundation’s generosity sustains core operations, enhances administrative needs, and advances essential programs that shape the future of young learners. The hope is that this gift inspires others to give an annual gift, sponsor, or otherwise invest in the school’s mission – reinforcing this shared commitment to peace, humanity, and the boundless potential of every child.

To contribute, please go to: Hershey Montessori School | Hershey Montessori School Giving | Donate

Hershey Montessori School Welcomes French Exchange Students

Hershey Montessori School Welcomes French Exchange Students

Jan 23, 2025 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

Hershey Montessori School announces the arrival of adolescent students and adults from Mios Montessori School, based in France, for a three-week exchange experience.

Hershey Montessori’s Upper School community welcomed the group‘s arrival on Tuesday, January 21. Due to frigid temperatures, classes were canceled, giving our French guests additional time to assimilate and connect with Hershey’s current boarding students, some day students, and staff members.

“We are excited to welcome eight students and two adults from the south of France into our Upper School community for three weeks,” said Stori Zinkhann, Dean of Enrollment Management and College and Career Counselor. “These adolescents will enjoy an immersive experience at Hershey Montessori School as they explore new perspectives in global education, create life-long friendships, and learn new ways to engage in our world. “

School in France is not in session this time of year, which made the January exchange a perfect time for the group to travel to the United States. In return, the group from Mios Montessori invited Hershey students to France in June for a similar exchange experience.

Hershey aims to provide opportunities to connect with Montessori schools across the globe as an enrichment opportunity for all involved. Experiencing diverse cultures and customs, and exposure to foreign languages and traditions helps elevate students’ understanding of a global society.

Zinkhann said, “Hershey’s adolescents are excited to explore a new culture through the eyes and hearts of the French visitors as well as learn a bit of their language, history, and culinary techniques!”

Any school that is interested in an exchange experience at Hershey may contact Stori Zinkhann at szinkhann@hershey-montessori.org or by calling 440-935-4880.

Campus visits, tours, and student shadowing opportunities are also available and can be scheduled through Ms. Zinkhann.

Hershey Upper School’s Environment-Friendly Passive House Design

Hershey Upper School’s Environment-Friendly Passive House Design

Dec 16, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

A little-known fact about Hershey Montessori’s Upper School is that its ninth through twelfth grade academic building was the first in the Midwest United States designed and constructed with Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS) criteria, making it both environmentally friendly and energy-saving through design technology.

What is Passive House?

Passive house design is a construction standard that uses architectural design to reduce energy consumption for heating, cooling, and lighting. The goal is to create comfortable, environmentally friendly buildings that require little to no energy input to control the indoor climate.

“Passive House” was established by the Passivhaus Institute in Darmstadt, Germany in 1996, and was one of the pioneering concepts for building low-energy houses and is today a leading building standard. The design is focused on making the best use of the “passive” influences in a building – like sunshine, shading, and ventilation instead of air conditioning and central heating. These “passive influences,” combined with high levels of insulation and airtightness, make it possible to use 90 percent less energy than a typical structure.

Passive House buildings provide better indoor comfort due to consistent temperatures and good air quality. They also reduce internal and external noise due to the high levels of insulation – a wonderful and greatly appreciated added benefit!

Why did we do it?

Hershey Montessori School is committed to the care of our environment and thus committed to implementing as environmentally friendly and sustainable construction principles as possible.

We are proud to be the first school in the Midwest to be designed with the cutting-edge standards of the Passive House Institute of the United States. PHIUS building criteria has created significant savings in operation costs and reduced energy consumption. Additionally, it has resulted in a beautiful, comfortable environment for students and staff and is an excellent model for other public buildings.

For more information on Passive House design, visit the Passive House Institute United States website.

Hershey Montessori School Receives $300k Dekko Foundation Award

Hershey Montessori School Receives $300k Dekko Foundation Award

Oct 17, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

For Immediate Release

October 16, 2024                                                                    

 

Contact: Yvonne Delgado-Thomas                                                                                                        

ythomas@hershey-montessori.org

440-357-0918 / 440-749-1124

 

Hershey Montessori School Receives $300k Dekko Foundation Award

 

Concord Township, OH, August 2024 — Hershey Montessori School is pleased to announce an award of $300,000 from The Dekko Foundation.  This generous grant will support Hershey’s strategic goals for “Rebuilding Capacity for Sustainability” over the next two years.

The Dekko Foundation’s mission is to foster children and young people’s knowledge, skills, and character, propelling them to self-sufficiency and economic freedom. The foundation is rooted in the belief that “Great things happen when adults step back to consider what young people need to grow and develop. Often, that deliberate act of reflection results in the most impactful outcomes.”

Dekko and Hershey align in this as is seen in Hershey’s Montessori approach to education. It is why, since its founding in 1978, Hershey Montessori School has been a sought-after school of choice for families in Northeast Ohio, and globally for adolescents since 2000.

Despite post-pandemic growth, bolstering enrollment and increasing retention will help meet the school’s long-term goals. Hershey accepts EdChoice Expansion Scholarships, offers financial aid options, OAIS scholarship tax credits, and more, making Hershey Montessori School more accessible to families from Ohio, across the U.S., and around the world.

Hershey Montessori School is grateful for the $300,000 Dekko Foundation award, and the continued generous support of The Hershey Foundation, the Hershey Family Foundation, and many individual donors. Every contribution, large or small, is invaluable. These gifts enable Hershey Montessori School to move toward economic sustainability while remaining focused on its vision: “Children and adolescents develop a strong sense of self, rooted in love for the environment and community, seamlessly transitioning from each stage of development through adulthood.”

 

About Hershey Montessori School

Grounded in the tradition of Dr. Maria Montessori for more than 45 years, Hershey Montessori provides beautiful Montessori environments where learning and work are integrated within a community experience, engaging intellectual, moral, and social development of children and adolescents from birth to eighteen years. Hershey Montessori School is comprised of two campuses in Northeast Ohio. The Concord Campus serves children from pre-k through sixth grade, and the Huntsburg Campus serves middle and upper school students. Hershey Montessori School added its Upper School program in 2015, making Hershey one of the first in the world to provide a full birth to 18-year curriculum with a boarding component and intentionally designed working farm. For more information, visit www.hershey-montessori.org.

 

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Middle School Boarding Reopens

Middle School Boarding Reopens

Mar 5, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

By Paula Leigh-Doyle, Hershey Montessori Head of School

We are excited to announce the reopening of our Middle School boarding program!

As many of you know, one of the unforeseen impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was the difficult decision to pause the program for the 2020 academic year and to reopen in an intentional way with older adolescents. However, the greatest impacts of the pandemic are hopefully now in our rearview mirror.

We are pleased to share that several new students are ready to join our Upper and Middle School residential community in the fall, and applicants range from Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Mexico, and other USA states. We greatly value the diversity of cultures our boarding program brings to our growing community.

We are confident in choosing the 2024-2025 school year to restore this invaluable component of our Adolescent Community on our beautiful Montessori farm school on the Huntsburg Campus.

This is truly a celebratory moment for us all and another example of our collective and demonstrated resiliency!

Note: Applications for enrollment are available on our website. More information can be found in our admissions tab.

Hershey Now Accepting EdChoice Expansion Scholarships

Hershey Now Accepting EdChoice Expansion Scholarships

Feb 5, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

Hershey Montessori School is pleased to announce its participation in Ohio’s EdChoice Expansion Scholarship Program.

The EdChoice Expansion Scholarship Program provides Ohio students the opportunity to attend participating independent schools. The EdChoice Expansion Program is income-based. It provides scholarships to students in grades K–12 based on household income level. The scholarship amount can be up to $6165 for grades K–8 and $8407 for grades 9-12.

Scholarships for EdChoice Expansion are awarded based on the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of a family’s household. If a family’s household income is at or below 450 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, they will be awarded the maximum scholarship amount. If a family’s household income is at or above 451 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, the student’s scholarship award will be prorated based on the chart below.

Hershey’s participation in this program does not change our pedagogy or admissions process, but it will greatly assist in making Hershey affordable for Ohio families who wish to avail of the scholarship. Hershey’s financial aid will still be available to qualifying families who need additional support even after qualifying for Ohio’s EdChoice Expansion Scholarship.

Families outside of the state of Ohio are encouraged to apply for Hershey’s financial aid. Questions regarding EdChoice may be directed to Diana Le Sieur at dlesieur@hershey-montessori.org or by calling 440-357-0918.

More information can be found on our Scholarships page and on Ohio’s EdChoice website.