91̽��

Gun control has been the “third rail” of American politics for decades, stirring such passionate argument and deep division that compromise on gun-safety measures sometimes seems impossible, gun-control activist Brina Milikowsky ‘96 told Upper School students.

But once you move past messaging from politicians and powerful lobbyists, there is much greater hope for agreement among Americans on both sides of the issue, says Brina, who recently worked as chief strategy officer for Everytown for Gun Safety, and is now a political consultant. She was invited by students to speak about gun control after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

When political leaders prioritize their party over the needs of the country, they can’t develop solutions to serious problems, Navy veteran and former Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez told 91̽�� students.

The United States faces great challenges, from the debates over gun control and immigration, to complex foreign policy problems, and division down party lines will prevent meaningful resolution, says Mr. Gomez, who visited campus as this year’s Conservative Club speaker.

“All these issues need strong leadership, and that’s not going to come from Washington, D.C.,” said Mr. Gomez, who said he’s encouraged by the unity and organization young people have shown since February’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. “All of these issues and their solutions will be driven by your generation.”

Born into “the most hated family in America,” Megan Phelps-Roper grew up believing that she was working to save people from eternal damnation with her church’s extremist messages. By the age of 5, she was on the picket lines with the Westboro Baptist Church, protesting everything from plays to military funerals with profane signs and slogans.

Ms. Phelps-Roper, who left the Westboro Baptist Church—and most of her family—in 2012, told 91̽�� students that meeting people on social media who thoughtfully challenged her church’s narrow and contradictory interpretation of the Bible helped her walk away from hate. Ms. Phelps-Roper visited 91̽�� as this year’s Class of 1952 Religious Understanding Speaker.

The United States is home to five percent of the world’s population, but comprises 25 percent of the world’s prison population. And while Massachusetts is often heralded as a haven for progressivism, its ratio of black to white inmates is higher than the national average, said Rahsaan D. Hall, the Racial Justice Program Director for the ACLU of Massachusetts.

Mr. Hall visited campus as the Onyx Assembly speaker in recognition of Black History Month. A former prosecutor, Mr. Hall described policing, courts and the prisons as the “criminal legal system,” as opposed to the criminal justice system.

Malia Chung (III) was one of two winners of the 12th-annual Helen Creeley Student Poetry Prize. Malia submitted two poems for consideration and a group of semi-finalists were invited to read their poems to judges as part of the selection process. The winners represented “exceptional quality of poetry, along with pitch perfect presentation and ability to command the audience.”

Malia began writing poems seriously in eighth grade. Last year, she won a Scholastic Writing Gold Key Award for poetry. She is taking Mr. Connelly’s Creative Writing class, where she worked on the two submitted poems for the Creeley Prize, “Crabbing in Bethany, Delaware” and “My Great-Grandfather’s Lithuanian Cavalry Stirrups.”

“There is something different about writing for this class; I don’t see it as homework. You can write on your own time and when you are inspired, which I really enjoy,” says Malia.

“Books were my first teachers, my best teachers,” writer Paul Yoon told 91̽�� students while on campus as this spring’s Bingham Visiting Writer.

During his reading, followed by a Q&A with students, Mr. Yoon described his evolution from a voracious reader to a writer (“It was like falling in love”) and explained that his inspiration for writing comes from the books that move him. When he reads something special, he writes to “respond” to that work.

The student-directed one-act plays are a campus tradition that challenge drama students to follow a production from licensing to casting to performance. This year, three students will present one-acts, opening Thursday, February 22.

“I like that the one-acts give students an opportunity to try on the role of director and see the process through fully,” says Peter Parisi, director of performing arts. “They have to understand the audience and select pieces that will appeal to them. There’s a lot that goes into creating a cast.”