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HONORING JIM DUNLAP
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Photos submitted by Tammy Welch
Above: After 34 years of service, Plano’s very own Dr. Doolittle, according to the Dallas Morning News, had become the go-to man for all things animal related. “He just loved his job so much,” Wille said. “These animals were his entire life and you could see how much love he had for them.”
Right: A mural painted in the Living Materials Center in honor of Dunlap when he retired in 2010. Katy the Snake is wrapped around his neck, as this is how Dunlap was largely remembered.
By Suhina Chopra
iology teacher and curator of the Living Materials Center Jim Dunlap died on April 5 at 70 years old. He had been struggling with heart disease for years, but his cause of death has not yet been released. A memorial was held on April 26 in the Doyle Dean Theater at 2 p.m. His love for animals led him to care for injured and abused creatures in his classroom when he taught biology. These animals were later moved to the Outdoor Learning Center once it was created in 1989. He believed the best way to engage students and grab their attention was to have the real deal right in front of them. Though he retired as curator in 2010 after 34 years of service, junior Avni Nandu remembered him with his python, Katy, and how he was one of the most memorable people of her childhood. “He used to wear a bracelet with a heart on it because he had heart disease,” Nandu said. “I thought it was a little strange for a guy to wear a bracelet because I was young. When I asked him about it, I remember how he said he was a little sick, but seeing his kids every week made him so much happier.” According to co-worker and close friend of 20 years Tammy Welch, Dunlap left his mark on many. He had a weekly newspaper column, “Backyard Zoo,” in the Plano Star Courier and his own television show called “Animals, Animals.” “He’s basically a celebrity, not just for students in Plano, but all over the metroplex,” Welch said. “He was the go-to person for many years when it came to animal issues, whether it be exotic animals or pets. He’s been on all kinds of news channels and he’s made appearances with people like Jim Faller and Peter Gross. He was so well-known that they would request him and he wrote about six to seven books.” Co-worker at the Outdoor Learning Center and friend Brett Taylor knew Dunlap since Taylor was in middle school, when his father used to work with the caretaker. Since then, he had met Dunlap on school field trips and events with his students, and 13 years ago, he began working with him. “When most people think about Jim, they know Katy the Snake,” Taylor said. “She was the other half of his celebrity team that almost every student in Plano knows. There are students from the 70s and 80s who remember Katy, the Burmese Python.” Katy the snake was very memorable for students, including senior Emilie Wille, who describes Dunlap as her inspiration for going into the scientific field. “He taught me to be more open-minded,” Wille said. “One moment that particularly stuck with me
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was when he took out his big yellow snake and said it would have been hunted in the wild because it couldn’t camouflage. I had always thought of such a big snake as a predator, Learn about the pair not prey. He that recieved a grant to travel to France. showed me how misunderstood www.wildcattales.com some animals are, and how peoples’ misconceptions about nature and science can scare them away from exploring things that are fascinating and rather harmless.” Dunlap was not only remembered for his love of animals, but for his approach to teaching as well. Taylor emphasized Dunlap’s focus on the experience of the individual student, and how this impactful method has set an example. “I looked up to him as a premier educator where the student was the most important aspect of the job,” Taylor said. “I know I’ll never have an impact on as many students as Jim did, but that’s something to strive for by trying to provide each student with a positive experience that they will be able to reflect on. He lived everyday that way and didn’t really care about the other stuff. He just wanted to give the students a good experience.” According to both Taylor and Welch, his teaching style combined with his friendly personality is what truly made him unique. “Students are going to remember him because he was bigger than life,” Welch said. “There are people now that he had met one time and who have never forgotten him just because of his warmth. He never met a stranger. Everyone he met automatically felt that he was a friend.” Welch and Taylor hope to continue Dunlap’s legacy of educating students and the public about animals and keep the program going. Dunlap’s passion for his animals, his devotion to teaching and his warm personality are what he will always be remembered by. “He’s touched so many lives in Plano ISD and has exposed children to creatures from all around that they may not ever see again,” Wille said. “He inspired a wonder in students to try to learn more about nature and the creatures they share the world with.”
BACTERIA OUTBREAK IN BLUE BELL FACTORIES By MaryClare Colombo
Recently, iconic ice cream brand Blue Bell released a recall notice for products made in Broken Arrow, Okla. A few weeks later on April 20, the company recalled all Blue Bell products, regardless of the plant in which they were made. Products were contaminated with Listeria, a bacteria that was linked to five sick people in Kansas, three people in Texas, one person in Arizona and one person in Oklahoma. Three of the five hospital patients in Kansas died. Some students, like senior Shanze Noorani, eat Cat’s Corner’s ice cream products on a regular basis. “I’ve been eating ice cream my whole life,” Noorani said. “I really like the Cookie Cones from Cat’s Corner and I really like
Baskin Robins and Marble Slab.” All products were recalled after two samplings from a half-gallon container of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream from a facotry line in Brenham, Texas tested positive for Listeria. Cat’s Corner immediately removed all Blue Bell ice cream products. Noorani eats ice cream four or five times a week, usually in the morning. Cat’s Corner had Blue Bell ice creams, ice cream sandwiches and Cookie Cones. “They don’t always have Cookie Cones, but if they have it I definitely get it,” Noorani said. “If they don’t I get two ice cream sandwiches or get the pints of Blue Bell. I get a pack of M&Ms or Oreos and I put it in.”
Senior Priya Chary eats Blue Bell’s Great Divide ice cream bars from the machine and the ice cream tubs from Cat’s Corner. “I eat ice cream because it’s refreshing on particularly hot days,” Chary said. “The recall did worry me a little bit because I didn’t receive any information or see any signs up that told me whether or not we were affected by it, but I think Cat’s Corner typically does a good job of keeping the food there safe for us to eat.” Previously Noorani had not known about the recall. Despite learning about the Listeria bacteria and its effects, however, she is not very worried.
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Photo by MaryClare Colombo
As a result of the April 21 recall, neither the ice cream machines nor Cat’s Corner sell Blue Bell products.