Pennsylvania Art Teacher Makes Trading Cards With His Students

Taking The Hobby to School

What started with a Phillies rain delay turned into a memorable class project for one Pennsylvania middle school art class.

After discovering trading cards through a television segment featuring then-Phillies reliever Matt Strahm, art teacher Steve Mogck, who also has a career as a studio artist (IG: @vanmogck), began looking at Topps cards as possible inspiration for his students at Lionville Middle School.

“I saw him open these cards, and I’m looking from an artistic perspective,” Mogck told RIPPED. “I’m looking at these Topps cards and I’m thinking, ‘These things are beautiful.’ How can I incorporate this into my curriculum? I know the kids love cards. How can I create this culture?” 

Inspired by the Topps designs and knowing how much his seventh graders loved sports and pop culture, Mogck built a project centered around custom trading cards, even creating his own art cards as examples and inspiration. The idea quickly went beyond the classroom. Thanks to support from Mogck’s LCS, Wheelhouse Cards, and co-founder Jon Spadaford, the students got a chance to showcase their work at a special event.

A Unique Entry into The Hobby

Mogck himself dove into The Hobby as he built out the idea for his students. “By the holidays, he was fully into it,” Wheelhouse Cards store and social media manager Matt Stratton told RIPPED.

Eventually, as the class project began to evolve, Mogck approached the LCS with an idea.

“I always try to make projects that are fun for the kids, that they’re engaged in,” he said. “If they’re interested in a project, you’re going to get so much more from them in the long run. I just said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about having this show for the kids. Here’s the class project. Would you be interested in hosting something?'”

Wheelhouse was excited to get involved. Stratton explained, “He’s an outside-of-the-box thinker. He had the idea of the trading card project that would culminate in a show. And so, we started spit-balling back and forth.”

Bringing the Project to Life

Mogck’s assignment for his students was simple. Each participant would create any kind of trading card they wanted. “All of a sudden, you could see the lightbulbs going off,” he said.

The teacher guided the process: “The kids had to change the layout of an existing card, not just create a carbon copy. They had to be different.”

Mogck knows from years of experience in both the studio and the classroom that opening up the field of play often brings about the best results. “Don’t say, ‘You have to do this.’ Give the kids choices, and all of a sudden, their eyes light up.”

“Some kids picked the Pixar stuff they love, the Disney stuff,” Mogck explained. “Some picked the sports — football, baseball. Some kids even wanted to make cards of their friends, which was super cool. Some tried to make their cards look like Refractors. They really did their research, man.”

The first step was the choice of card, followed by work on thumbnail sketches. This helped get the ball rolling. Eventually, the work would be refined on light boxes.

“You put your sketch and a brand new piece of paper on top, and project that image,” Mogck explained. “That way, they can get a nice carbon copy of their own refined image, then they could trace their drawing.”

Mogck explained that the class was able to use top-of-the-line materials to create their cards. The artwork itself was done on paper far larger than a trading card. After the students had finished, Mogck reduced the images and printed them on high-quality card stock. The last step was cutting them to traditional trading card size.

A Card Shop Turned Gallery

When the big night arrived, Mogck was thrilled with what Wheelhouse had put together.

“Jon and his whole team went above and beyond,” he told RIPPED. “They put these things in these beautiful cases for the kids. Put the Wheelhouse sticker on top. They got this thing catered. And the parents are saying to me ‘This is unbelievable.’ Wheelhouse really stepped up.”

Stratton said Wheelhouse was more than happy to go all out. “We set up a couple eight-foot tables around the store,” he explained. “We kind of made a U-shape so people would walk around and work their way throughout the store. We really wanted it to look great after all the work they’d done making the cards.”

It was a fun night for the shop as well. “The kids came in and they’d try to find their card,” Stratton said. “Some kids came with their friend groups too, they were finding each other’s cards and saying, ‘This is Molly’s card. This is Joey’s card.’ They were pumped to see their cards on display.”

For Mogck, the night was a huge success for one main reason — it put the students in the spotlight. “If I can provide a platform for these kids to shine, that does more for me,” he said. “It’s about the kids. I didn’t have these things. I’ve gone to so many different art schools. I didn’t have this opportunity. I just love seeing them shine.”

The Impact of The Hobby

The impact of Mogck’s student card project has lasted well beyond one big night. “Now what I do is I have these kids — when they do good, even now that this project’s over — we have card time,” he told RIPPED. “I bring in my cards, I’ll spread them out on a ping pong table, and they trade.” The Hobby was brought an extra kind of connection to the classroom, with the kids leading the way.

“They’re actually having conversations with each other about these cards, the stats of the cards,” Mogck said. “It opened up a whole new realm.” Often, Mogck will now reward good work and good effort in the classroom with a pack for students to rip. He also noted an unexpected benefit — “It keeps them off their phones.”

While Mogck inspired his students, his students have similarly inspired him. “The kids challenged me,” he said. “They said, ‘Why don’t you start doing your own cards for the summer?'” Mogck usually spends his summer working on art for the James Oliver Gallery, which represents him in Philadelphia, so he accepted the assignment and is beginning to create his own artistic one-of-one cards.

Both Mogck and Wheelhouse plan to do this again. “Dude, this is every year,” Mogck said. “I’m going to do this card project every year. It’s building momentum.”

FAQs

• Who is Steve Mogck?
  • Steve Mogck is a Pennsylvania art teacher, who worked with the team at Wheelhouse Cards to create a custom trading card project and gallery experience for students at Lionville Middle School. 
• How were sports cards used in Steve Mogck’s classroom?
  • Students designed original trading cards inspired by sports, pop culture, and their own interests. They studied card layouts, created sketches, and transformed their artwork into finished cards printed on premium cardstock. 
• How did Wheelhouse Cards support the project?
  • Wheelhouse Cards hosted a special exhibition showcasing the students’ creations, transforming the shop into a gallery and providing a memorable experience for students and their families. 
• How can trading cards help kids?
  • Cards can encourage creativity, communication, and community. According to Steve Mogck, card collecting helped students interact with one another, discuss players and statistics, and spend less time on their phones while building friendships. 

Key Facts

• Featured Educator: Steve Mogck used trading cards to create a custom art project for seventh-grade students at Lionville Middle School
• Community Partner: Wheelhouse Cards helped turn the class assignment into a public exhibition
• Creative Process: Students designed original cards inspired by sports, pop culture, and their friends
• Premium Presentation: Finished artwork was reduced to trading-card size and printed on high-quality cardstock
• Ongoing Tradition: Mogck plans to continue the trading card project each year
• Collector Impact: The project introduced students to creativity, collecting, and the social side of The Hobby

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