One year after Foundations of Science teacher Michael Beck began his teaching career, a student gave him something that would start a collection of more than 100.

 “My second or third year of teaching, a student gave me a PEZ dispenser,” Beck said. “I used the candy as a reward system for my students. Over the years, students gave me more and more until I had an extensive collection.”

Beck doesn’t buy PEZ dispensers for himself. His PEZ have been gifts, mostly from kids. He still uses the candy to reward his students.

 “They’re inexpensive,” Beck said. “Kids will do anything for a small treat. There are a variety of flavors. It gets the students active in class.”

In room 322, Beck’s PEZ dispensers collected through the years are hard to miss. He has a glass case that he said holds a third of how many he actually has. The dispensers have a lot of assorted faces from Marvel superheroes and the Simpsons to some Pixar movie characters. The Star Wars PEZ dispensers are his favorite, and one of his students, freshman Corey Copper, agrees.

“His Chewbacca one is my favorite,” Copper said.