Semisweet

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 Schools Board of Managers creatively interpreted the Founders 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 OBrien, 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 Schools 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, OBrien tells a universal story about the vulnerability of needy children, describes the madness that consumed his beloved brother, explores the cruelty of bulliesboth young and old, exposes the corrupting influence of money, and shows how the Milton Hershey School continues its sacred mission of saving thousands of Americas neediest children. See the website for the book at semisweetbook.com.