B.I.O.N.I.C.

· To make new students feel welcome

· To reach out to hospitalized students

· To reach out to students with extended illnesses/health conditions

· To reach out to students and their families, and staff that experience the death of  a loved one

· To reach out to other schools that experience tragedies
In order to accomplish these goals, the B.I.O.N.I.C Team consists of five smaller teams – each with the purpose of reaching the above goals. Each team has student leaders to organize the activities.

Believe It Or Not I Care! Most adults today think that young people don’t care about anyone else but themselves. Through my 25+ years as an educator and in youth ministry of various kinds, I have found that is not the case. Yes there are exceptions as with any part of the population, but I have found that the youth of today truly want to make a difference with their lives.

When I was in high school I heard a speaker, Dr. Earl Reum, who challenged us to become B.I.O.N.I.C. people and say “Belive It Or Not, I Care” with our lives. I knew one day I would use that in my teaching and working with people.

A few years ago, my school experienced the suicides of four of our students in eight months. As a result I searched and prayed to find the areas where kids were falling through the cracks. I saw that often it was the kids who were new to our school at any other time that the beginning of each semester, and also students who missed school for many days due to illnesses, health conditions, the loss of a loved one, or a tragedy of some kind. As a result we started a club at the school called the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team in which students could reach out to other students facing challenging times.

We determined that we would create five teams within the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team:
– New Student Team
– Extended Illness Team
– Hospitalization Team
– Loss Team
– School Tragedy Team

In these pages we will discuss what our school has started that is becoming a movement to reach out to those facing challenging times. Schools, youth groups, women’s ministries, businesses and organizations are adapting these concepts to reach others in their church, school, organization or business who face challenging times. It is all about people caring for each other in very simple, uncomplicated, every day ways. In two and a half years the club has gone from 2 to over 200. Find out why!