Alumni Focus - Blake Martin ('21)

Blake Martin (’21) shares his memories of SCLA and the impact of his Christian education on his burgeoning career as a content stragetist and the founder of Billight, the world’s first patented light-up pool table and gaming system.  Since graduating, he applied his statistical analysis skills and creativity to his Instagram page for his dog, which quickly climbed to over 200,000 followers.  A High School All-American bowler while at SCLA, Blake reflects on band, STEM classes, and the international and cross-cultural experiences that shaped his path. 

What are some of your favorite memories from your time at St. Croix?

Most of my favorite memories came from band. My close friends were in band, and hanging out with them in class or before/after concerts brought so many memories. In middle school, me my memories are trying to find G on the timpani pedals with Parker Lewis and giving my band crush a flute necklace that I hope she still has. Freshman year, I felt so cool having a senior in Jordon Schletty driving me to get Cane’s before every concert. Mr. Fenske had his dad come to teach for a couple of months; that was a blast. For April Fools’ one year, I disassembled some French horns and hid the parts around the school as a scavenger hunt. Hanging out with Molly Krueger and Joe Engel, marching in the cold, putting a hole in the bass drum in the middle of a concert on my 16th birthday, and staging a jazz band coup my senior year are all core memories. 

Were there any teachers or staff who had a big impact on you?

Mrs. Stob and Mr. Fenske had large impacts on my high school experience. I had Mrs. Stob for two years in AP Physics. She was the first and one of the only teachers who refused to give me answers. She would instead reflect my questions back to me and guide me to figure it out on my own, which I now know as the Socratic method. That was the time I had to learn resourcefulness and independent problem-solving. Mrs. Stob nominated me for a coding camp at the end of my sophomore year. That camp changed the course of my life. Without her, I wouldn’t have learned the technical skills that started my business.

Mr. Fenske was the highlight of my mornings for seven years. If it wasn’t obvious, band was my favorite class. Mr. Fenske pushed me to be better and is one of the most patient people I have ever met. 

What lessons—academic or personal—did you carry with you after graduation?

The people you are around will determine the course of your life. Goethe said, “Show me the five people you spend the most time with and I will show you who you are.” St. Croix is a special place where pretty much everyone shares the same faith and fosters yours. After graduation, you have to put effort into finding those people. Thankfully, I only had a few rough months in college before I met those who are still my best friends. What I carry with me from St. Croix is that those people do exist: People who you can connect with by shared values and same faith; people who will encourage you and grow up with you. Life is not meant to be lived alone. Finding the right people to be around is imperative.

Were you involved in any extracurriculars or activities that helped shape who you are today?

I had the honor of being a part of the St. Croix bowling team. Although I don’t bowl anymore, the lessons I learned from competing made me successful in other areas. I learned the process of learning, how to improve at a craft, how to work without immediate payoffs, how to control my emotions, and how not to crash and burn with success. The St. Croix bowling program also gave me some of my best friends, still to this day. Kris Swanson and I just spent time in Italy, Jordon Schletty and his fiancée came to Austin for the fourth, and I wouldn’t have been able to build Billight without Ryan and Kyle Swiderski. Not related to the bowling team, but Marvin Beekman, father of a few St. Croix students, filed the Billight patent.

What path did you take after graduating? How did your goals evolve over time?

I went to college at the University of Arizona and studied Statistics and Data Science. I made my dog, Whiskey, an Instagram account and grew it to over 200,000 followers in about a year and a half. We have a cooking show where we make food for humans and dogs. I graduated a year early in 2024 to launch my startup, Billight, which is the first ever patented light up pool table and gaming system. It was recently named by TechCrunch as one of the top 200 most promising startups globally of 2025. I moved to Austin, TX in March and currently work for Ryan Holiday, best-selling author of the Daily Stoic, The Obstacle is the Way, and more. I run his social media and the Daily Stoic accounts. I am leading the content strategy for his new book Wisdom Takes Work, which should debut as an instant best seller. 

What advice would you give to your high school self or to current students?

Be odd and live an interesting life. With my career, I have had the privilege of meeting some fascinating people: from billionaires to athletes to social media personalities to thought leaders. What do they all have in common? They are weird. They have unique stories, interests, histories, and ways of life. The founder of Wire said, “The most successful people are the ones who don't lose what made them weird as a kid.” You will feel a bit of pressure at some points in your life, especially in high school, to give up something you love, trying to fit in. Don’t. Pursue something passionately, live outside of a screen, and get some good, unique stories to tell. The more interesting you are, the more people will want to be around you, and that will lead to more opportunities. Just yesterday, one of the big late-night TV show hosts came in for a podcast, and it turns out he majored in math in college, like me. We talked about expected value theory and how I used multi-linear regression to make my dog famous. He invited me to his show that night. The formula for success is pretty simple: be a good person, be different, and do cool things.

How did your experiences at St. Croix influence the kind of work you wanted to do in adulthood?

This is an impossible question because I still don’t know what kind of work I want to do throughout my life. St. Croix exposed me to many different people and cultures. I am so thankful for the international program and growing up around people vastly different from myself. This showed me that there is not one correct way to live life, there isn’t one distinct path I have to take. Personally, I want to live in a way that those who don’t know Christ come to know his love through how I treat them. One day, I want to be a great husband and a great father. I think that I can trace both of those back to the community that I grew up in at St. Croix, being around wonderful families, teachers, and coaches.