Zuhra Abhar-Persson stepped into the role of International Students Services Program Manager July 30th, bringing with her 14 years of experience in international education. Upper School Principal Rachel Stone announced the news following former Director of International Students Tasha Otenti’s decision in June to continue her graduate studies and the departure of Interim Program Director Hans Zhou.

Abhar-Persson’s love for the world and working in education for developing countries started when she came to the U.S. herself as an 17-year-old international student.

Five years before that, when Abhar-Persson was 12-years-old, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996. As a sixth-grader and a girl, she was banned from school. When she arrived in Boston, in 2001, with her father’s words to “respect others and be a leader,” she spoke zero English and was five grades behind.

“It was really, really hard,” Abhar-Persson said. “I was a very shy student, I spoke no English…and because 9/11 had happened, I was bullied. But I managed to study and ask for help. It made me a stronger person.”

She went to private school for a year and then enrolled in Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH) for her senior year.

One day, her adviser at NMH, Pam Shoemaker, said to her, “Behind that shy-skinned girl, there’s somebody else. I want to see that person.” A few weeks later, Abhar-Persson decided to dress up in traditional Afghan clothing to go to the school’s culture night.

“I started dancing, and students got to know me as who I am, not somebody who came from Afghanistan,” she said.

After NMH, Abhar-Persson went onto study international relations and sociology as an undergraduate and later sustainable international development and conflict resolution for graduate school at Brandeis University.

“I was educated, so I wanted to give back,” she said.

In the pursuit of this contribution, Abhar-Persson travelled to over 25 countries working in education, human rights and curriculum development. She joked that she has lived in all continents except Australia. Yet, Abhar-Persson’s proudest project began back in her home, Afghanistan, in 2012. There, she developed a nine-month literacy class for women who were unable to receive education during the Afghanistan War and whose ages had exceeded school requirements.

“I asked them: where do you need my support?” she said. “They told me that women were not educated. [It was] the small things…they didn’t know how to read signs at the clinic.”

So Abhar-Persson went to work. She hired teachers, assembled school supplies and organized community members who volunteered their houses as classrooms. The community members described their needs, and she delivered. Eventually, the program even got permission from the Ministry of Education to award third-grade certificates to women who completed the course.

She continued her work, contributing to numerous projects over the years: a program for school dropouts in Tajikistan, a health and sexuality course in Tanzania and high school vocational programs in Cambodia, East Timor and India. Abhar-Persson travelled back and forth between other countries and the U.S, constantly adjusting to new places, cultures and languages.

“I loved it because I love to learn about different cultures, languages, foods,” she said.

Now, Milton is the community that Abhar-Persson gives back to. At the beginning of 2025, when most of the funding for the USAID agency she was working for was cut, she decided that if she couldn’t help students overseas, she could at least help students who are from overseas.

Managing education projects in developing countries appears undoubtedly different from managing international students in the U.S. However, Abhar-Persson’s response is, “not really,” because her work at Milton continues to correlate with different cultures, languages and students. She still wants the students to be a voice for themselves, and she still wants to help others by asking what she can do for them.

Especially with the Trump Administration’s recent immigration crackdowns since January, Abhar-Persson said that she will inform students of any information she receives and keep her door open for communication. Abhar-Persson also held a meeting on September 15th for international students to discuss their I-20 visas and welcome them to the community.

“Students are the changemakers, they are the leaders, and they are the future,” Abhar-Persson said. “I want them to lead, to make the changes… I [also] want to sit down with Milton students, and ask: Where can I help you? What are your needs?”