For two days this week, students at Walsingham Academy studied computer and TV screens showing views of the chimney at the Sistine Chapel.
They scrutinized the smoke pumped through the chimney, disappointed every time dark puffs floated into the air, signifying a pope had not been chosen. But at 2:06 p.m. on Wednesday, they gathered to watch the screens and were stunned to see white smoke streaming out of the chimney. A new pope had been selected!
Annie Gallagher, a religion teacher for sixth and seventh grades, ranks the moment among the top three best memories of her 30-year teaching career. Her students excitedly started filming the white smoke on the screens with their iPads and shouts of “Habemus Papam” echoed through the halls. “We have a pope!” her students yelled in Latin.
On Feb. 11, Pope Benedict XVI announced plans to become the first pope to resign on his own initiative since Celestine V in 1294. From that moment, Walsingham religion teachers Gallagher and Steve Delaney (who also serves as campus minister) knew they had the ultimate teachable moment. “We closed our textbooks and went into studying,” Gallagher said. “I live for moments like this.”
They immediately shifted their class discussions to cover every aspect of the announcement, from the aftermath of Celestine’s resignation to the process to choose a replacement to the new “pope emeritus” role for Benedict. They even discussed how improvements in health care are making popes live longer, and whether 85-year-old Benedict might have set a good precedent by leaving the role before his health declined further.
“For our young people who are so absorbed by media and pop culture, it’s a gift to have a moment where it’s totally focused on what you’re teaching,” Delaney said.
The teachers designed projects around the process of choosing a pope. Sixth-graders used their school-issued iPads to make educational movies, designed to teach younger students about the papal conclave that selects the pope. Delaney’s students prepared Sweet Sistine (a play on March Madness) brackets to track their favorites for the role of Pope. Most of them favored New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan; the chosen pope, Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio, appeared on few of their brackets.
Gallagher said teaching about the election was more engaging for students than when Benedict was chosen in 2005. She gives credit to changes in the media since then, which allow students to conduct research online, easily watch videos on YouTube of older papal elections and even add a conclave app to their iPhones and iPads to track the comings and goings of the College of Cardinals.
While the world waited to see who would emerge onto the balcony of the Basilica on Wednesday, the students were dismissed. They returned to school Thursday excited to talk about the series of firsts that unfolded when the new pope appeared. Bergoglio became the first pope ever to choose the name Francis, after the famous Saint Francis of Assisi. He dispensed with several of the traditional robes, choosing instead to appear in a white cassock with his own cross, a gesture of humility that Gallagher attributed to the vow of poverty he took as a Jesuit priest. All of those choices dominated discussion in class; Delaney said the best class days are spent just answering questions from curious students.
For non-Catholic students, the past few weeks have been a way to bring the lessons in history books to life. For the Catholic students, Delaney believes it helped them feel connected to people of the same faith throughout the world.
Watching her students explain the papacy to younger ones has put Gallagher “on cloud 9.” “This just made my career,” she said. “One day they’ll be teaching their own children about this and remember this week.”
Tabb DECA Wins at State Conference
Members of Tabb High School’s DECA club, an association of marketing students, won several awards at the Virginia DECA conference earlier this month.
Winners include Sarah Burkett, Rachel Deyerle, Hannah Dun, Logan Lancaster, Rebecca Mackey, Brooke Mahan, Taylor Stubbs, Courtney Taylor and Amanda Varnes. Taylor, Mahan and Stubbs all qualified to continue on to the International Career Development Conference in April in Anaheim, Calif.
DECA advisor Christina Majka also received the Outstanding Advisor Award at the state conference. As a chapter, Tabb DECA received the highest award, the Blue Chip, for work submitted to the conference in its annual report.
WCA Kindergarten Wins Fundraising Contest
Students in Teresa Randall’s kindergarten at Williamsburg Christian Academy recently won a schoolwide, semester-long contest to collect box tops.
Box Tops 4 Education is a national fundraising effort that collaborates with companies to have its coupons placed on box tops. Box tops clipped and collected by students can help their schools earn cash.
Box Tops 4 Education coordinator Terri Cordle rewarded the students with a pizza and ice cream party. Through winning the competition, WCA will be able to purchase new equipment and materials.
