For many people, Pokémon brings back memories of trading cards, Saturday morning cartoons, and friendly competition.
For Convention of States Emerging Leaders Program alum Blake Schaper, it also provided an early lesson in freedom, self-government, and standing up to tyranny.
Blake recently shared that story in an article for The Daily Wire. In it, he explains how a childhood conflict over Pokémon cards helped shape the political beliefs he holds today.
Read Blake’s full Daily Wire article here.
As Blake wrote, “Pokémon is not just a children’s game, but a symbol of the beauty of free markets, the good of self-governance, and the need for resistance to tyranny.”
That may sound surprising at first. But for Blake, the experience showed him what happens when someone tries to take control over others unfairly. Even in a game among children, he learned that freedom is worth defending.
Years later, the Emerging Leaders Program helped him build upon that first lesson.
“The Emerging Leaders Program was the first time since my homeschool co-op days that I felt welcome and understood among a group of peers,” Blake said.
ELP gave Blake more than classes and leadership training. It gave him a community. He remains close friends with the people in his ELP group today.
“Apart from God and my family, they are my greatest mentors, advocates, comforters, and companions,” he said. “Each one of them has helped build me into a more thoughtful and caring person.”
That kind of fellowship is vital. America needs leaders who understand the principles of liberty. But it also needs leaders with wisdom, humility, courage, and concern for others. ELP helps young people grow in both knowledge and character.
For Blake, the Servant Leadership course that he completed was especially meaningful. It helped equip him to become a leader prepared to confront injustice. The program also helped him take the ideas he had started forming as a child and turn them into a clear purpose for his life.
His personal mission statement is powerful: “To become a great-souled man whose wisdom, integrity, excellence, and humility glorifies God and inspires others.”
ELP’s study of Western Civilization also gave Blake a stronger historical and philosophical foundation for the beliefs he first began to understand through Pokémon. He gained language for the truths he already sensed: freedom is valuable, self-government is good, and tyranny must be resisted.
Today, Blake is already putting those lessons to work.
He recently completed an internship with The Daily Wire as a writer. During that internship, he wrote 100 articles, edited about 135 more, fact-checked several of Matt Walsh’s Real History videos, and created spreadsheets for advertising sales. His articles have received about 2 million total views.
Blake is about to begin his sophomore year at Hillsdale College. He is pursuing a double major in mathematics and economics, with minors in journalism and possibly art history.
He is also thoroughly involved on campus. Blake serves as president of the Quizbowl Club, vice president of the Young Americans for Freedom chapter, secretary of the chess club, treasurer of the Alexander Hamilton Society, and puzzle writer for the student newspaper.
In a fitting full-circle moment, he is trying to start a Pokémon group at Hillsdale.
Blake’s story is a reminder that leadership can begin in unexpected places. Through ELP, he found a community, sharpened his convictions, and developed the skills to communicate those convictions to a wider audience.
Blake Schaper is the kind of young leader America needs, and the kind of leader that is developed by the Emerging Leaders Program.