Students Gifted Teacher 2 Rubber Ducks 16 Years Ago. She Never Imagined How the Quirky Tradition Would Grow (Exclusive)

• Megan Davidhizar received two rubber ducks from her students during her first year teaching high school freshmen 16 years ago

• She displayed them on her desk and other students saw the ducks and brought her more

• Now, 16 years later, the educator’s collection of ducks has grown into the hundreds — more than she can even count

• Recently, Davidhizar posted a video of her duck collection on TikTok, where it went viral, amassing more than 4.2 million views and 10,000 comments

During Megan Davidhizar’s first year of teaching high school freshmen 16 years ago, she had two students, Kelsey and Carrie, who were best friends and always made her laugh.

Once, they gifted her a decorated outline of their bodies on full-length paper. Another time, after reading Romeo and Juliet, Davidhizar walked into her classroom after school to find them on the floor, foam swords under their arms, pretending to be dead.

Then, one day, the two girls approached Davidhizar's desk, giggling.

"I wasn’t sure what to expect, but then they handed me two rubber ducks — one with a tie and one with a heart necklace. "They explained that they were supposed to represent me and my husband," the 37-year-old teacher tells PEOPLE exclusively.

"I thought the gesture was very sweet, so I displayed the ducks on my desk," she adds. "Other students saw the ducks and brought me more."

Now, 16 years later, the educator’s collection of ducks has grown into the hundreds — more than she can even count. Of all the ducks in her classroom, she hasn’t purchased a single one; every duck has been gifted to her by a student or colleague. After receiving each one, she writes the name of the student and the year on the bottom.

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To display the collection, Davidhizar lines up the ducks across bookshelves and on tables in her classroom. Some students "adopt" ducks for their desks, rearranging them with friends or even naming them. New ducks are always displayed on her desk for a month or two before being relocated to other parts of the room. Seasonal holiday ducks are kept in her drawer and come out during the appropriate months.

"Just like with my students, I can’t pick favorites," Davidhizar says. "However, I’ve been gifted many anonymous ducks over the years — I’ll return from making copies and find a new duck on my desk. The ones given in person or with a note are a little more special since I can connect them to a particular student."

"A lot of people ask if I like rubber ducks, and the answer is yes — but perhaps not as much as it appears!" she adds. "I think they're adorable, but they really mean more to me because they’re gifts from my students. There are some very unique ones that stand out, though, like the giant papier-mâché duck made in art class by a student’s older sister. After a few years of being in their home, their mom asked what in the world they were going to do with it when she moved out to college. My student told her, 'I think I know someone who would want it!' And she was right!"

She continues, "I also have several hand-painted ducks and ducks from students’ travels, including from Germany, New York City, Niagara Falls, Nashville and even a duck reading a book, which was given to me when I announced my book was being published."

Recently, Davidhizar posted a video of her duck collection on TikTok. She had first joined the platform to promote her book, Silent Sister, but being a teacher is just as much a part of her identity as being an author. As a result, her teaching naturally found its way into her videos.

"I like to try to make people laugh and brighten their day, and that’s what I hoped to do with this video too," she says, adding how she thought it might get a few thousand views at most.

But to her surprise, the video went viral, amassing more than 4.2 million views and 10,000 comments. Reading through the comments, she says a lot of people suggested she should start giving the ducks away. But, she doesn’t think she could.

"I really love looking back on them and remembering each student who gave them to me," she says. "I also have a blanket with rubber ducks on it, a glass pitcher, wind-up ducks and tiny little plastic ducks. Last year, one student crocheted me a duck!"

"Maybe when I retire, I’ll dump them all in a pool and float around in the sun with them," she adds with a smile.

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While she hasn’t received any new ducks in the few days since she posted the video, she’s already impressed many students with her newfound viral fame. "They think I’m 'TikTok famous' now and love telling me how I popped up on their FYP the other night while they were scrolling instead of doing their homework."

"Teens are awesome; it's why I love teaching them every day and enjoy writing books for them," she adds. "Even my most challenging students have good hearts, so I was glad to remind people of the wholesome things happening in schools."

"A lot of people commented that they could automatically tell I was a good teacher, and that surprised me," she says. "I'd never really thought of my ducks that way. I see them more as individual connections, and I guess I forget to look at them as a whole and reflect on just how many connections I’ve made over the years. It makes me tear up thinking about it, honestly."

Through social media, Davidhizar adds how she's been able to stay connected to one of the girls, Kelsey — who also recently invited her to her wedding post-graduation. She’s also reached out to Carrie to let her know about the video.

"Kelsey saw my video when it had only a few hundred views on another platform and commented, 'I feel at least partially responsible for this.' It made me laugh."

"I know the collection has had a lasting impact on my student," she continues. "I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that some of them have forgotten giving me a duck, but whenever I run into students years later, they tell me two things: 1. They still have the note I wrote and gave them on the last day of school, and 2. They think of me whenever they see a rubber duck."

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