Featured Story

Middle & Upper School Lunch & Lead for World Language Week

By: Kate Parker-Burgard, Center for Leadership Director
As part of St. Luke’s World Language Week, the Center for Leadership held a special Lunch & Lead for Middle and Upper School students with St. Luke’s parent and Iranian refugee Shiva Sarram.

Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Sarram fled the country with her family to escape the devastating 1980s Iran-Iraq War. After briefly living in Europe, Sarram and her family arrived in the U.S., where she later attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Economics. She went on to work on Wall Street for Chase Manhattan Bank, Deloitte & Touche, Tiger Management, and McKinsey & Company. 

With a deep-rooted passion to help war-affected children and decades of experience in philanthropy and economic development, Sarram founded the Blossom Hill Foundation, an organization that funds innovative approaches that help refugee children impacted by conflict in the Middle East.

During the Lunch & Lead, Sarram shared accounts of her life as a child in Iran and her journey to America (via Europe), as well as how language has played a critical role in her career and life. She broadened our perspective on what refugees around the world might experience when they are forced to flee their homes during war and national unrest, sometimes without knowing if they will ever return.

To see additional photos from the Lunch & Lead, click here.
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St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.