B.I.O.N.I.C. Students & Alumni Bring Hope to the World!

Video of B.I.O.N.I.C. Alum – Gage Crispe

In this environment of unrest and turmoil in the United States, B.I.O.N.I.C. Team current students and alumni know the answer and have learned the skills to make a difference during these stressful times. Through the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team outreaches in the schools to students who are new, sick, hospitalized, bullied, or lose a loved one, they:

• host a lunch/breakfast virtually or in-person for new students to connect them with others and feel welcome
• pair up with new students to help them meet other students and learn the layout of the school and the ins and outs of the school.
• mail get-well packets to students who were out sick with extended illnesses to let them know through a personalized card and inspirational saying that we wished them a speedy recovery and sent the resources to help them catch up on the schoolwork they were missing (that was the greatest stress the told us about missing school)
• deliver a mug with chocolates or a mug and balloon for those with dietary restrictions to let them know they were not forgotten
• let bullied students know that what happened to them was wrong and that there IS support for them at school and the incident was reported to an adult in the school
• deliver to students who lose loved ones a pie to their homes in honor of the person they lost, or if the family prefers, a mug filled with comfort food to the student at school. For school staff who lose loved ones, the B.I.O.N.I.C. students deliver a pie or gourmet bread to them at school.

As a part of B.I.O.N.I.C.’s School Tragedy Team, posters with student and staff signatures are delivered or mailed to other schools that experience tragedy. On B.I.O.N.I.C.’s Intergenerational Team, students made fleece tie blankets for residents at a senior living center for Valentine’s Day. Extra outreaches B.I.O.N.I.C. Teams do are:

• making colorful posters for the senior living center residents
• creating and mailing cards to veterans on Veteran’s Day
• delivering veggie or cookie plates to first responders on B.I.O.N.I.C.’s “9/9 – I Care Day”
• raking leaves at a senior citizen’s residence
• collecting Disney DVD’s for Children’s Hospital
• collecting socks for the homeless
• sponsoring Giving Trees for the community to donate presents for families in need during the holidays
• collecting items for the homeless
• sponsoring food drives for families in need

Those are just some of the outreaches B.I.O.N.I.C. Teams do now and through the last 16 years the B.I.O.N.I.C. Teams have been in existence. Through these outreaches, the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team members learn how to use small talk to connect with new students. Through the hospitalization deliveries (when restrictions weren’t in place during the pandemic), they learn about the climate in hospitals and social graces in how to encourage a student who does not look well or has a serious illness, knowing the student needs encouragement. Often the hospitalized student and his/her parents say that we were the only ones from the school who visited them…even though we don’t know them. The B.I.O.N.I.C. members learn how to write appropriate thoughts on a get-well card, or how to express condolences to a grieving family or staff member in the midst of the B.I.O.N.I.C. members’ own feelings welling up inside of them. They learn how to have the courage to reach out to a bullied student sitting alone at lunch and risking their own safety or reputation.

The B.I.O.N.I.C. Team outreaches force the B.I.O.N.I.C. members to mature faster as they deal with life circumstances most students do not face until later in life. An unexpected result of participation in the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team has been a dramatic increase in leadership abilities because the members see the immediate results of their outreaches and the tangible results of the impact of their outreaches. We have seen the most reserved students develop confidence beyond their years in a short amount of time because of the effect their efforts have in improving the climate of a school to inspiring other students to care too.

What is the result we have seen in our alumni? Through the relationship skills they learn, they become more caring parents and spouses/partners, more effective workers because they care about more than the bottom line, and more caring community members because they have developed courage from the confidence they gained in how they can make a difference in this world. The video above is B.I.O.N.I.C. alum Gage Crispe who is now the Chair of the B.I.O.N.I.C. Board of Directors. We believe that our B.I.O.N.I.C. students and alumni can make an incredible difference in this world during difficult times! You watch, you wait, you will continue to see!!!