‘Believe It Or Not, I Care’ club at Oswego High spreads holiday cheer

The students involved in Oswego High School’s BIONIC Club want to spread kindness any way they can.

BIONIC stands for Believe It Or Not, I Care. In the spirit of the club’s mission along with the spirit of the holiday season, the club recently provided holiday gifts for families in need.

“We’re about creating a sense of community for everyone,” said Oswego High School senior Griffin Fowler, who is on the board for the BIONIC Club. “We want to make BIONIC a safe space for anyone at our school or even just in our community. We’re people that they can rely on.”

At more than 400 students, the student-run BIONIC Club is the largest club at Oswego High School. The members of this year’s BIONIC board attended a recent SD 308 school board meeting requesting the board consider the addition of cords for graduating seniors based on a point system of participation.

“We would just like to recognize the people who put in that time,” Fowler said.

The BIONIC Club oversees such programs as T.A.L.K. (Teens Activating the Language of Kindness), which trains Oswego High School students in active listening, reporting, speaking and leadership. The program, which started in 2001, gives students the opportunity to talk honestly about bullying, diversity, empathy and teen experiences.

Other school districts joined the group this school year for training. In addition to that program, the BIONIC Club oversees H.I.K.E. (Heroes Invested In Kindness Everyday), a mentorship program in which high school students are trained to be positive leaders and then teach elementary school students how their words and actions impact others.

Board member Natalie Raabe said such a program would have helped her when she was an elementary school student.

“When I was in elementary school, I struggled a lot,” Raabe said. “It’s a program that I would have loved to have as a kid, to connect with high schoolers who were going through similar things and to know that I wasn’t alone in what I was going through.”

Oswego High School teachers Wendy Monn, Colleen Predl and Rachel Zeifert are the three adult sponsors for the group. Monn has been involved with the club for 19 years.

She took the reins from Ralph Mitchener, an Oswego High School social worker who started the group in the late ‘90s.

“Everything we do is about kindness,” Monn said. “Kids want to spread kindness. It makes you feel good. I’m just glad I work in a community where we are capable and able to run something that’s so powerful and so good for all ages.”