By Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning
At Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning (CHS), investing in our employees is essential to building strong teams and providing high-quality early childhood education. Through professional development, continuing education, and career advancement opportunities, our employees build the knowledge, skills, and confidence to succeed in their roles and grow professionally.
One example of this commitment is Seeds to Lead, a paid professional development and onboarding program that all employees complete before a new CHS Center opens. During this full-time program, which begins with a convocation kickoff, teachers and staff participate in hands-on, collaborative learning that prepares them for the work ahead. They also build relationships with colleagues and develop a shared understanding of the CHS mission, values, and approach to early childhood education.
Our investment in professional development continues after employees begin working in our Centers. Each year, all CHS employees attend our Early Childhood Education (ECE) Leaders Summit, which brings together hundreds of professionals from across the field. The 2026 Summit welcomed nearly 500 attendees, including educators, nonprofit leaders, college faculty and community partners for a day of learning, collaboration, and networking.
Through keynote presentations, interactive breakout sessions, and conversations with fellow professionals, attendees explore emerging challenges and gain practical strategies they can bring back to their classrooms and organizations. By creating opportunities for employees to learn alongside professionals from across the industry, the Summit reinforces the value of sharing knowledge and working together to support children and families.
Professional development can also open doors to long-term career growth. Through a partnership with Elizabethtown College, CHS helped develop an online Associate of Science in Early Childhood Education (Birth–Pre-K) program, with courses beginning in fall 2026. The program incorporates academic credit for Seeds to Lead, allowing eligible CHS educators to build on their professional training while pursuing a college degree. This partnership creates an accessible pathway for educators to advance their education while continuing to work in the field.
These initiatives reflect our belief that professional development is an investment in people. Providing employees with opportunities to learn, collaborate, and advance their careers helps build a culture of continuous improvement and strengthens the teams responsible for serving children and families.
For organizations across Lancaster County and beyond, investing in employees’ growth can create benefits that extend well beyond the individual. At CHS, we see professional development as an important part of building a supported, knowledgeable workforce and ensuring our employees have the tools and opportunities to make a lasting difference.
We’ve seen the impact of these opportunities firsthand as we’ve developed our teams at CHS New Danville and CHS Elizabethtown. Several members of those Centers’ leadership teams began their careers at our Dauphin County locations, demonstrating how investing in employees’ professional growth can create pathways to leadership and support the continued growth of an organization.
Business bio:
Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning (CHS) provides non-residential, year-round weekday care and education to children from six weeks to age 5 from under-resourced and overburdened backgrounds, with all costs covered for qualifying families. CHS is a subsidiary of Milton Hershey School (MHS) and is part of a $350 million initiative to develop six Early Childhood Education Centers in Pennsylvania. For more information, visit chslearn.org.
Milton Hershey School is one of the world’s best private schools, where qualifying students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade live on campus and receive an exceptional educational experience—with all costs covered. For more information, visit mhskids.org.
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