If you were to see a TikTok of a person randomly handing out Pokémon cards out on the street, you might expect to see the comment section in shock, given how much these cards could be worth. However, thanks to senior Chase Barranco, students of all grades can now be found with Pokémon cards on the back of their IDs. 

“Over the years I have collected Pokémon card packs and recently I discovered that I had something close to 1,000 cards that I didn’t need,” Barranco said. “I thought it would be cool to get one to pretty much every student in the school. I had this idea the week before finals and decided in a hurry to bring them all into school just weeks before Winter Break.”

Since Barranco was in a rush to distribute the cards, he met with numerous teachers and asked for help in handing them out to the student body.

“Chase approached me, Mr. Barranco and a few other teachers,” Web Design teacher Max Brewer said. “This was mid-November and Chase brought in containers and containers of cards and we agreed to pass them out randomly to our students. Mr. Barranco and I both made huge displays of cards outside our classroom windows until we ran out in less than a month. It was a super fun experience.”

With over 1,000 cards circulating throughout the student body, Barranco suspected that there might be some rejection or disrespect of the cards. However, to his surprise, most students politely accepted his gifts.

“I actually haven’t had much pushback,” Barranco said. “It was weird; I thought that I would start seeing cards on the floor or in the trash, but I haven’t at all. There were a couple teachers that didn’t support my idea because they thought that it would be too distracting, but so far I haven’t heard of or seen any issues having handed out the cards currently.”

For many students, this is their first exposure to owning Pokémon cards. 

“I think this whole trend is hilarious and amazing, I have never been into Pokémon before but having a card and trading with other people is so fun,” junior Lillie Newton said. “I have had friends from other schools ask me about the card in my ID which made me realize that this whole thing is unique just to our school. It definitely gives me a sense of Southwest pride knowing that Pokémon cards are our thing. I have the Snom and a fox, which I forget the name of, but I really like them, they are so cute.”

In addition to all of the cards that were distributed by Barranco, students have started to bring in their own cards from home. 

“My friends from my grade have Pokémon cards in their IDs too,” freshman Madeline Trujillo said. “I know Mrs. Bousema was giving them out to students and then lots of other freshmen realized that it was cool and brought in their own, even sometimes rare ones. Having Pokémon cards is fun because it makes everyone feel unique, but at the same time more connected too.”

Even adults like  Brewer are making his own connections to his early childhood.

“I see the cards everywhere now,” Brewer said. “I think it’s pretty cool that something that started becoming popular when I was a kid, like back in elementary school, could still carry on in such a big way. I feel vindicated in a sense because Pokémon has always been fun. It’s also a nice way for students to express themselves, like maybe you are more of a Snorlax Pokémon or something else. It’s exciting to discover and identify with all of the fun characters.” 

Now that the cards have all been claimed, Barranco is proud of what he acccomplished.

“It’s cool to see so many students with Pokémon cards in their IDs because I feel a lot of pride knowing that I got the ball rolling on it,” Barranco said. “It’s crazy being able to look at a student and realize that their card could be from me.”

Even though he will soon move on and graduate, Barranco hopes this idea of creating community continues.

“This was just a way for me to share my favorite hobby and the thing I am passionate about with the students here at Southwest,” Barranco said. “Pokemon is something that I have always been closely attached to and its really easy to share with other people. It has been just a really unforgettable experience to see my small action of bringing in some Pokémon cards to school have such an impact on the student body.”