San Jose ICO — News & Events

Video from ABC7

We have a great video from ABC7. It is several years old, but still very appropriate in terms of describing our program. Unfortunately we only have it in MPEG format, so we have chosen not to embed it into the web page. Most browsers will play the video when you click the link below, by using an 'external' application (plug in).

Play video >>

One of our volunteers featured in Bay Area Parent

Larry Volpe, one of our volunteers and teacher par excellence at Dan Lairon School was featured in an article in Bay Area Parent.

Check out the article and find out more aboout San Jose ICO, as well as about Larry and some of his other awards and accomplishments.

An older article in the San Jose Mercury News also features Larry.

Outing Highlights

SJICO Volunteer Outing, August 2-3, 2003 -

by Sarah Rosedahl

The weekend of August 2^nd and 3^rd, 2003, brought together several of the SJICO volunteers for a weekend of hiking, relaxing, cooking, eating, conversation and video-taping, in the beautiful redwoods of Portola Redwoods State Park, http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=539. Saturday morning, Jeff, Jose, Steve and Sarah hiked, while Maggie and Brandy, the best dog in the world, relaxed and studied. Later in the afternoon, Shabbir, Amy, Carlos, Gerry, Candy, Susan, Jennifer and Rocky joined the group. After setting up camp at the Hillside Group Camp, we split into two groups for Jeff’s “Wildlife Scavenger Hunt”. After two hours of hunting flora and fauna, and successfully tackling the “Team Challenge”, we returned to camp for several hours of cooking and eating, followed by smores and exciting encounters with skunks and raccoons. Hey, we don’t eat this well on the regular ICO outings!!! In the morning, after devouring Jeff’s now famous banana pancakes, we entertained ourselves by filming the ICO Leader Video. Props and makeup included plenty of moss. The outing was a great success. It was especially great to get to know some of the spouses and significant others of the SJICO volunteers, as well as new volunteers Jennifer and Rocky!

Seven Trees School BackPack July 21-23, 2003

by Bob Segalla

The bright sunshine smiled on the seven laughing boys that would not have had the chance to get out into the Emigrant Wilderness without the ICO volunteers Larry Volpe, Ray Swartz and Bob Segalla. They hiked through fields of flowers, learned about the different kinds of wildlife, and got to swim in crystal clear mountain lakes. They were prepared and self reliant when rolling thunder echoed down the granite mountain sides followed by a forty minute sprinkle. There is nothing like a nice game of cards in a cozy tent. One of the boys, Alonzo, had gotten four mosquito bites, but they disappeared by the time we returned to school. We cared for each of the kids with watchful eyes as they swam, and made sure each ate good food, had good shelter, and was comfortable. They only had to carry their pack from Crabtree Camp (7250’) up 1.7 miles to Larry’s Rock (7500’) where we set up base camp. We then had a short hike into Camp Lake to pump fresh water and swim, returning to see a sunset that words cannot describe. Tuesday it was only about a mile and half up to Bear Lake (7720’) after a pancake breakfast. We stressed the natural beauty with has been preserved down through the many years with a geology lesson about rock formation. They boys said carrying the packs and all the work was well worth it.