The origin story of one of Occidental’s newest clubs begins with a Zoom call for incoming swim and dive athletes, a painting of the original 151 Pokémon and a maxed-out iMessage group chat.
This group would be no other than Oxy Pokémon Club. President Carter Park (junior) and Vice President Josh Spessert (senior) said the club is for people who love all different types of Pokémon — whether that is Pokémon GO or other avenues, such as the trading card or main series game.
“I think this club really, at its roots, started with Pokémon GO because we both got into it [again] two years ago and started playing Pokémon GO just recreationally with the two of us and a few other friends on the [swim] team,” Spessert said. “And then we learned about a larger Pokémon GO group [chat] last year.”
Before his first year began, Park said he was on a Zoom call with fellow incoming swim athletes when he found out another teammate had an interest in Pokémon: Spessert, who was also on the call, shared he was completing an art piece of the 151 original Pokémon.
Spessert said he has liked Pokémon his whole life and played “the heck out of” Pokémon GO before college.
“As soon as I could recognize that things had names, I was naming Pokémon,” Spessert said. “On top of [borrowing] books every week [at the library], my mom and I would go to the VHS section and grab the latest Pokémon anime VHS for the original Ash in his Kanto Journey.”
Park, too, said he grew up around the franchise, playing the Pokémon DS games and occasionally watching the TV show.
Upon coming in-person to campus for the first time in his sophomore year, due to COVID-19, Spessert said he was roped back into the app when he saw Park and another swimmer, Nico Cantrell (junior), playing Pokémon GO.
But they weren’t the only people on campus who were playing the game — Lauren Samaniego (junior) said she created an iMessage group chat for Pokémon GO players on campus Jan. 2023. According to Samaniego, the group chat has always been at full capacity.
“We saw how much love for Pokémon at large there was on campus, whether it was Pokémon GO or other avenues, which is why we created the club,” Spessert said. “But important to note, we are not Pokémon GO Club. We are Pokémon Club.”
Park agreed and said focusing solely on the Pokémon GO app would limit the scope of the club. According to Park, their goal was to reach the community of Occidental that included any and all enjoyers of Pokémon. This was realized to him when, according to Park, the club filled up one of the classrooms in Johnson at their very first meeting.
“We did learn from our first meeting — there were these two people that both played the main series games competitively and they hadn’t known each other, and then they started talking about it,” Park said. “I thought it was super cool, seeing [people] relate over a niche part of the franchise, compared to [Pokémon] GO, which is more popular just because it’s a mobile game.”
Park and Spessert said that when planning out events and activities, they try to keep the meetings geared broadly to the general interest of Pokémon in order to be more inclusive.
“Our last meeting was a Pokémon-themed Jeopardy game for everyone,” Spessert said. “And so all the Pokémon nerds who know all this information about Pokémon, but never felt like they were rewarded for it, can finally see a way to get their own Pokémon cards as prizes.”
According to Spessert, the variety of elements within Pokémon also means that there is something for all age ranges.
“There is no age for loving Pokémon, and the younger kids, with the release of new games, get to enjoy that,” Spessert said. “Older people like us and then even into adulthood, like professor Cannon, get to enjoy interacting with Pokémon GO.”
Chemistry professor Jeff Cannon is the faculty advisor for the Pokémon Club. He said he was 10 years old when the first Pokémon video games came out, “Pokémon Red” and “Pokémon Blue,” and he has been playing Pokémon ever since. Because the app requires a user to physically move around to catch Pokémon and compete with other users, Cannon said he plays Pokémon GO on campus and has met students doing the same.
Spessert said professor Cannon is the best Pokémon GO player on campus.
“I think I’ve become known for being a Pokémon player on campus,” Cannon said. “I think that’s why Carter asked me to be the club advisor. Carter also works in my research group, so we’re close in that regard as well.”
Cannon said he is happy to support the club as the advisor and that he values any opportunities for students to meet people with shared interests. According to Spessert, the club is open to anybody who has any degree of interest in Pokémon.
“You could have played Pokémon your entire life since you were born, or you could have heard about Pokémon last week from your friend,” Spessert said. “Anyone is free to come and share the love.”
Contact Emma Cho at echo2@oxy.edu
