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Feature

Senior transforms passion for woodworking into business

The sixth in a series of features starring student entrepenuers

By CARMEN VESCIA
Staff Reporter
When he began Woods I as a
junior, current senior Eli Dugan
had no idea that over a year later,
he would have his own business
selling handmade wooden pens
and other creations making an
estimated $2,000 in doing so.
He also didnt know he would
sacrifice completing the IB Diploma to continue woodworking
instead.
[I] just kind of fell in love
with it, Dugan said. It came
naturally.
His affinity and interest for
woodworking lead him to complete many Woods II level projects while in Woods I.
One of the first projects he
did was a chessboard, which he
then set into the top of a table.
Meanwhile, many of his peers
made simple cutting boards and
footstools.
Woods teacher Ethan Sanford believes that what is unique
about Dugan is his willingness
to try new and difficult things, as
well as his ability to turn failure
into opportunity.
He purposefully takes on
challenging projects that, by
their nature, create many opportunities for obstacles and failure,

Photo By Carmen Vescia

Since creating his business, Dugan has made around $2,000.

Sanford said. When he comes
to an obstacle to something that
fails, although he might be disappointed, he assesses how to then
surmount the obstacle.
Dugan found he also enjoys
the challenge of creating more

technically difficult pieces.

The challenge was definitely
part of it, Dugan said, to see
how far I could push myself. Another key part of it was making
things that I find beautiful.
The majority of the things

Dugan creates and sells are pens. ing Woods II, and is playing his
At home he can make one in third year of varsity baseball.
His family supported his
roughly two hours, and usually
sells them for around $100-$150 decision to continue woodeach. He also sells ingrained cut- shop, even if it meant making
ting boards for upwards of $200 some sacrifices.
[My family] encouraged
apiece.
Dugan decided to start sell- me to drop the diploma and
ing when he realized many peo- take the certificates because
they knew
ple would
Whats unique about Eli is that
I
liked
pay for his
obstacles and the potential for failure
woodshop
products.
is not seen as a stop, dont go there, he
so much.
He began
uses it kind of as a challenge.
I had their
selling his
Woods teacher Ethan Sanford
approval,
work this
w h i c h
past summer, and works both in the Se- helped, Dugan said.
In addition to gaining techquoia woodshop, as well in the
woodshop he made in his garage. nical woodworking skills, DuI looked online and I saw re- gan feels he has learned other
ally high prices for stuff I knew more business-related skills.
I would say that this busiI could make, Dugan said. I
ness
has helped me learn cost
thought, you know, I could do
that type of stuff, and sell it for a efficiency... [and] how to run
a business and make money
lot of money.
He sells mostly to people he while still buying materials and
knows, and works on an order- tools, Dugan said.
Although he may not have
to-order basis.
I havent made a website or time to continue it during colanything, so I get orders based lege, Dugan doesnt want to
on pretty much word of mouth, stop working with wood anyDugan said. It just kind of time in the future.
I love doing that type of
spreads to people who have seen
craftsmanship. It interests
them or want them.
Although Dugan decided not me, Dugan said. I definitely
to complete the IB diploma, he is want to continue as a hobby
currently in all IB classes, exclud- throughout my life.

Avoid Internet humor pitfall of misusing popular memes

By ANGIE CALDERN and
CARLOS GARCA
Staff Reporters

Y U NO guy.
Philosoraptor. Rage
comics. Bad Luck
Brian. LOLCats. Socially Awkward Penguin.
If you dont know
what memes are,
then you most likely
live under a 1997
Dell.
However, not everyone knows how to

use them correctly. With the emergence

of memes, the internet community has
generated jokes that range from being
absolute genius to over-the-top insensitive.
As a redditer and a 4channer on the
lookout, we find memes so bad that we
cringe at the very sight of them.
First off, what exactly are memes,
and where do they come from? Internet
memes are captioned pictures that travel
from person to person like a virus. They
usually originate from websites like
4chan and Reddit.
Picture this: Besides 4chan and Reddit, memes also make their way through
a variety of other lesser websites such as

9gag, Pinterest and Tumblr, where they

are shared by immature 12-year-olds.
By the time they reach Facebook, however, all memes come to their untimely
deaths.
Bad and terribly-phrased jokes exist;
life is always full of disappointments,
and you just cant change that. Worse
though, is turning a bad joke into a
meme.
If you are aware of the existence of
memes, prove it; youve got to know
their joke structures to make for a better
meme. If youre going to make a meme,
make sure you know exactly what youre
doing, that you get the right picture and
that you have a funny joke or pun.

Also, make sure the meme can connect to a variety of people. By that, we
mean make sure that you are not the
only one laughing at your own joke before you click that create button. Save
yourself the embarrassment. Please
dont make Bad Luck Brian or Futurama
Fry feel bad.
If it werent for social media, memes
wouldnt be as huge as they are now.
People need to know how to create a
good meme. Some can be hurtful, and
some can just be very unfunny. Sooner
or later, these great memes will die off
because they will be misused, but its
good to educate yourself about the importance of a good meme.

Meme style guide: its not A joke

Forever
Alone
Guy
Common
Misuse: I

Condescending
Wonka

Common Misuse: From

the point of its creation,

people have begun to ditch
just broke
the joke structure of the
up with my
meme from the common
significant
Oh, you...? You must be...
other... Forever alone, you guys! or when
to plain sentences. They also
everyone else is in a relationship.
pair it with random jokes.
Correction: It is actually a more general
Example: In Soviet Russtatement on being alone where most sia, Oompa Loompas own you!
things, living and nonliving, would
Correction: This form of meme should sound as conderather not make contact with you, ever.
scending as it looks, using the Oh, you...? You must be...

Rage Faces

Common Misuse: Some of these rage faces are

taken from their homelands in a rage comic and
are forcefully moved into other sites, where they
are abused and stripped of their true identities.
Correction: Rage faces are at home when they
are in Rage comics only. Nobody likes to be put
somewhere they feel uncomfortable, so dont do
it to these poor guys.