About

The B.I.O.N.I.C. Team was started by school counselor Sandy Austin in the 2004-05 school year at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, Colorado in response to four suicides of students at our school a couple years earlier. It is a club to help support students and staff going through challenging times and prevent other students from falling through the cracks. As a result, the B.I.O.N.I.C. Teams at Green Mountain and Pomona reached over 140,000 people in 14 years and has expanded worldwide. Over 2,300 schools around the world have inquired about starting a B.I.O.N.I.C. Team on their school campus. Through the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team, young people are making a difference in their world by helping others facing challenging times such as new students, sick or hospitalized students, bullied students, students and staff who lose loved ones, and other schools experiencing tragedy. Click on the links below for the two-part B.I.O.N.I.C. Team YouTube videos to see what it’s all about:

OUR MISSION
B.I.O.N.I.C. (Believe It Or Not I Care) creates more caring schools, organizations, and communities that support, encourage, and connect those facing challenging times.

OUR GOALS

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
To empower bystanders to prevent bullying

In order to accomplish these goals, the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team consists of six smaller teams – each with the purpose of reaching the above goals. New Student Team, Extended Illness Team, Hospitalization Team, Loss Team, Bully Prevention team, and the School Tragedy Team. (Go to the “Program” page to see the details of each team.) Each team has student leaders to organize the outreaches.

B.I.O.N.I.C. TEAM MEETING TIMES

There are monthly large B.I.O.N.I.C. Team meetings to bring the entire team together since the individual teams often aren’t aware of the outreaches of the other teams. During the monthly meeting the activities/outreaches of the past month are reviewed, members are informed about the coming month’s calendar, members are inspired by a speaker, and breakfast/lunch served to members as a thank you.

HOW TO ACTIVATE THE B.I.O.N.I.C. TEAM
The team is notified of those needing outreaches through referral boxes in teachers’ workrooms, referral boxes throughout the school, a referral locker, or the B.I.O.N.I.C. e-mail account. The B.I.O.N.I.C. sponsor follows up on all referrals to seek permission for an outreach.

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