Besides the horror stories of a small teacher nosing into couples that got a little too close together at dances, Dan Fruzzetti is also a notorious inventor or, the self-proclaimed, “guy who knows a lot of stuff”.

Fruzzetti has patented many ideas and has even built some of them.

One of these creations is the marker holder, which allows the user to easily hold the markers while swapping them efficiently. Not all of Fruzzetti’s ideas are all in his older years; he also created new solutions in high school. An idea that he presented to his class was combat that could be conducted far away from the battlefield. For example, having pilots that would operate a plane from the safety of an American base.

Most students wonder why an inventor like himself would choose to teach.

“When I was in college, I tutored people in math,” Fruzzetti explains. “It was so fun that I decided to pursue a career in teaching, mostly to survive. 11 years later it is still rewarding.”

Fruzzetti advises students, “If you want to learn how to do something, just go do it. That is the only way to truly learn. When it fails, all that means is you’ve learned one way it won’t work.”

Fruzzetti lives by the motto, “Try again.”