Everest second graders host mock papal election for Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Since 2018, second-grade teacher Michelle Wildrick has used a fun feast day tradition to teach her students about the papacy

CLARKSTON — Everest Academy teacher Michelle Wildrick has had 12 popes in her lifetime: Pope Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Pope Francis … and seven of her second-grade students.

Every year since 2018, on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, one of Wildrick’s students dresses up as the pope, accompanied by two other students dressed as Swiss Guards, and parades through the hallways, waving, blessing babies, and passing out “pope-sicles” to the students in both Everest Academy and Everest Collegiate High School next door.

“It is important that we remember and understand (the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter) because we are celebrating the beginning of the papacy when it started with St. Peter," Wildrick told Detroit Catholic. "I think it is important for the kids to understand the beginning and where we are right now. It is a fun way to do it for them, and it is special because it’s also a big sacramental year for them, their first reconciliation and first Communion.”

A week or two before the feast day, Wildrick and her students host a mock "papal conclave." The second graders gather in the school's chapel and pray the rosary as Wildrick pulls students out one at a time to vote for the pope. The votes are done in secret, and the students are not allowed to share their vote even after the count is complete. While each child gets to vote once — just like each cardinal in real life — in accordance with Catholic doctrine, only the boys can be elected pope.

“First of all, we talk about who would make a good pope and what we look for characteristic-wise,” Wildrick, who has been a teacher for 29 years, explained. "I remind them to think of the real pope, what he does and what he is responsible for. We are not here to vote for our best friend; we want that person to have the virtues that we work on every month: Are they kind? Are they honest? Are they understanding? And are they that way all the time, in the classroom and out of the classroom?”

Wildrick tallies up the votes. The boy with the most votes is named pope, and the two runners-up are Swiss Guards. But before Wildrick announces the results, the second-grade class gathers outside the school to burn the votes, as in a real papal election.

“I tell the kids if they see white smoke, then we have a new pope, and if it's black, we don’t,” Wildrick said. “We burn the votes, and then at some point, there is white smoke, and the kids all scream, and they are happy and excited, and I reveal the pope.”

On the actual feast day, Feb. 22, the pope and his Swiss Guards put on their outfits — the pope's outfit is from a Halloween costume and the Swiss Guards’ costumes were made by the grandmother of one of Wildrick’s former students.

The newly elected pope and his guards walk through the halls, lined with the other students. This year’s pope, Pope Donovan, was greeted with clapping and cheers; a preschooler handed the pope a baby doll to bless and kiss.

Donovan Denver and his two "guards," Xavier Felix and Luke Taykowski, made their way through the academy before being driven to the high school by the headmaster and high school principal, Gregory Reichart, in a makeshift popemobile.

The whole event doesn’t take long, but over the years, Wildrick said her former students return to tell her how much they enjoyed the tradition, and she has created a “pope poster” with pictures of all her former popes hanging in her classroom.

“I know that for the kids who are the pope and the Swiss Guards, it is something that will stick with them,” Wildrick said. “This group, in particular, understands that, ‘My peers really think this about me.’ They know they have a big job to do; it is an important job, representing second grade."

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