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Viewing art “involves very close looking, but also being open to a variety of ideas,” author and art critic Jed Perl told students. Mr. Perl was on campus as the Melissa Dilworth Gold Visiting Artist. On Tuesday night, Mr. Perl spoke to faculty, parents and alumni at 91̽��’s “Evening with the Arts,” an event dedicated to Kay Herzog, former English department chair and a champion of the arts at 91̽��.

During the Visual Arts Assembly, Mr. Perl showed students various works by artists such as Picasso, Corot and Mondrian. He discussed the process of “looking at something with your eyes and then figuring out what you are looking at. There is a back and forth between looking at it and making sense of it.”

Students can make a difference even before they reach voting age, by committing to hold their representatives accountable, said Jill Ashton, executive director of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

“Build a relationship with your elected officials,” she encouraged students. “Know who represents you at all levels of government. Your state representative may remember what it was like to be a high school student, but they have no idea what it’s like to be a high school student in 2018. Your experiences and perspective are unique and significant.”

Students who listen to others, instead of fighting to command the spotlight, are building critical leadership skills—sometimes without knowing it—Army Brigadier General Richard F. Johnson P’19 told 91̽�� students during the Veterans Day assembly.

“When I was your age, I didn’t realize that I had the potential to lead; I didn’t really understand how to model leadership,” Brig. Gen. Johnson said. “If you want to be a leader, you can do that by being a good follower: being a strong leader at times and a team member at others. Generally, the leader listens. They allow other people to express their opinions, they absorb those opinions, and that allows them to form their own.”