By — Mia Parada 

When talking with Mrs. Neelum Chaudhry, her passion for students and education quickly becomes clear. “The thing I would want students to know about me are my focuses as a school administrator. And they are to provide a safe environment for all students to learn, and to build relationships with students,” she stated. As Tuscarora’s new face as Principal in the absence of Mrs. Croft, she has been taking on lots of new challenges.
This is her first year acting as a principal; however, she has worked in the school system for quite some time. Both here in Loudoun County as well as in Iowa. “I first started teaching in Iowa, and I was a journalism teacher there. I ran the school yearbook and newspaper there, and I also taught the basic journalism classes. After that, I spent nine years in book publishing as a public relations and marketing director, but I ended up going back to teaching because I missed it so much.”
Switching back to education led her to fill many roles over the years. As part of the inaugural staff of Freedom High School since its opening in 2005, she worked as an English teacher, then became the English department chair, then the testing coordinator, and in her most recent role, she has been serving as an assistant principal since 2014.
Having grown up and starting her education outside of the United States, Chaudhry brings an interesting perspective to her position as an educator. She was born in Pakistan, but at age 10, she moved to Kuwait where she went to high school at an American high school. She later went to Lebanon for college, but in that year the civil war started, so they closed down all of the universities.
This is what eventually brought her all the way to the United States to attend the University of Iowa. Here she met many other educators also working on their graduate degrees.
When asked about how she is liking Tuscarora so far, Chaudhry stated, “I love it. I
really felt welcome. And from what I see the students seem very nice, and people really seem to like being here. I’ve had many students who have greeted me and talked with me. It’s a very welcoming atmosphere.”
From all of us at Tuscarora, WELCOME! We are excited to be working alongside you this year.