CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — We have all had at least one teacher who has had a huge impact on our lives. Vinay Dulip was one of those teachers here in the Coastal Bend.
He leaves behind a lasting legacy in the lives of students, colleagues, and his family.
“Caring, challenging and compassionate, “ that's how Risha Dulip, describes her teacher, her colleague, friend and most importantly —her father.
“Our dad was one who always gave his time and efforts to people whenever they needed it,” Risha said.
He was an educator for over 30 years—- he taught Chemistry.
Dulip taught in India, Nigeria and started his career in the states teaching at Taft High School.
But many schools in the Corpus Christi Independent School District played a role in his career.
For over two decades his heart and soul was at Moody High School where he impacted the lives of hundreds of students who now remember him and how important it is to "lets get it together"—- a saying he would tell his students all the time.
"He had a really great way of piercing through all of the mumble jumble and all of the fog in the air and just saying 'Hey you got this. You need to focus. School comes first everything else comes after," a former student from Moody High School Armon Alex, said.
“He enjoyed spending time with those students and really impacting their lives cause he knew he could change their lives,“ Risha said.
Alex was one of the many students whose life— Mr. Dulip impacted.
“Mr. Dulip was one of a kind guy. I mean, goodness he probably will go down as one of the most impactful educators at might I say Moody,” Alex added.
Alex said that a lot of his passion in his career in the science communications field all came from his engagement with Dulip. He now is even working with the youth.
But Mr. Dulip, or as some called him 'Mr. Google It', didn’t only inspire students but also other educators like Randal Stewart — a STEAM teacher at Moody High school.
Stewart first met Mr. Dulip at Martin Middle School where he would take his Demo Club from Moody to demonstrate what they were working on to the younger kids and he was impressed.
At that time, Stewart had just started his career as an educator and he said he would even have trouble getting his kids to write their name on a paper. But he was amazed at how Mr. Dulip handled his students and was inspired to one day be like him.
And Stewart said one of the most important things he learned from Mr. Dulip was the importance of building relationships.
"He was more than a teacher to all of his students and even after they would graduate and move. He always was close with them and spoke with them and that is something that I try to do everyday with my students,” Stewart said.
Risha added that when her and her little sister Nisha were growing up it was a little hard to understand why their dad was so dedicated to inspire other kids.
"At a young age it’s hard to understand when your parent is an educator. They call their students their children, but my dad like many other educators cared for the students as if they were his own, she said.
And although Mr.Dulip developed a bond with his students —-his family meant the the world to him.
"Whenever we needed something, he was always there in a heart beat," she added.
Her father was a great role model as he lived his life with joy and adventure. He loved to travel the world and even made it his mission to give that opportunity to his students.
In 2009 he created something called the 'Moody Trojans Explorers' which was a group that would travel every year to different parts of the world.
The amount of outpour that the Dulip family has received from the community is reassuring.
“He never did it for the recognition. He was selfless in a lot of things that he did and so that is very appreciative that they (the community) recognize the amount of impacted he had in their lives,” Risha added.
Outside of work he loved to cook, garden and traveling.
Risha told KRIS 6 Neighborhood News Reporter Naidy Escobar that her father died doing one of the things he loved most—— traveling.
Services will be held at the First Christian.Church on Nov. 2 at 10 a.m.
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