A brooch is more than a mere piece of jewelry for most collectors; it also happens to be a one-of-a-kind of way of saying “hello.”

Ida Umphers, a senior instructor for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, caught several students’ attention the first day of class, but not through her lesson plan.

Every day, professor Umphers wears a different brooch that matches her attire, spurring her students to think of what might be the inspiration for the brooch that day. From bulldogs prancing in a field of flowers and lizards roaming the yard as she cuts her grass to regal elephants and the ornate birds, the brooches greet students with new species all that time.

One thing her students have discovered is that if she wore the same brooch twice in a row it would not be professor Umphers. She has around 100 brooches. Also she says, “I started collecting them because I find necklaces and bracelets annoying, but wanted something in the jewelry line.  Plus, they come in so many forms, shapes, colors that they are continually interesting.”