SJICO
Participant in the News…
ABC7 Salutes Sierra Club Inner
Cities Program
ICO in the San Jose Mercury News....
Inner City
Outings Links Cultures Through Outdoor Exploration
SJCIO Participant, Myhahn Duong, from the Pioneer High School MESA Program, was recently honored in the San Jose Mercury News “Heads of the class” article, as Valedictorian of her class.
MYHAHN DUONG
Age: 18
High school and city:
Favorite Memory: Going on a week-long summer camping trip sponsored by the Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings program. A dozen teens from all over the West Coast, journeying down the California coastline, sleeping under the stars, cooking our own dinners and pitching our own tents, taking in the sights, roasting marshmallows over a campfire… it was awesome!
My friends will remember me as: A hardworking, realistic, intelligent, sometimes aggressive perfectionist who doesn’t fit any labels and who sometimes does very stupid things.
The people who have influenced me the most are: My parents, who keep pushing me; my teachers, whose most important lesson to me is that of self-confidence; and my friends, who accept and support me.
My motivation all these years was: Seeing how far I can go if I keep challenging myself.
Post-high-school plans: Attend the University of California-Berkeley through a Regent’s and Chancellor’s scholarship and major in bioengineering.
Outing Highlights…
SJICO Volunteer Outing, August 2-3, 2003
Sarah Rosedahl
The weekend of August 2nd and 3rd, 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
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