A stranger walking into science teacher Bob Kucer’s classroom, room 1012, would probably be overwhelmed by the sprawling mass of colorful butterflies covering the walls and ceiling. Perhaps mixed in with the intimidation, however, is a dash of intrigue—what’s the story behind the butterflies? Why are there so many and how long did it take him to amass such a number?

“A couple of my students, maybe around 1998, were doing a project with a professor at San Jose State University. I went over to SJSU for them to show me what they were doing, and while walking down the entomology hall, there were a few of these butterflies,” Kucer said. “I brought the idea back to SHS and had students sign them or leave a message on them and pin them to the walls and ceiling.”

The tradition, which has stuck ever since, has produced some interesting side effects. Several of the messages left on the butterflies, while not particularly appropriate, have struck Kucer as highly memorable.

“Maybe there are profanities on ones still on the walls and ceilings, but one of the best messages was on a butterfly … that actually fell during an AP Biology test,” Kucer said. “When students returned to class a couple of days later, I read to them what was on the butterfly, ‘Kucer, hope you burn in hell!’”

Aside from the folded butterflies as classroom decorum, Kucer also keeps records of his past students’ achievements in the form of photos and certificates on his walls. He commemorates his students’ activities in science extracurriculars like the Synopsys Science Fair, Intel Science and Engineering Fair, National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine and more.

Additionally, many of the photos act as flashbacks to Kucer’s past teaching jobs in other middle and high schools. Every year, starting from his first years teaching middle school students at St. Felicitas Catholic School to today, is memorialized in some way on his classroom walls.

“As a past SHS principal once said, it’s kind of like a museum in here,” Kucer said. “There’s a lot of good stuff on the walls.”