Brianna Gibbons, the volunteer site director of the new BIO Girls program at Lutheran Church of Christ the King, runs with two participants in last year’s program at Hope Lutheran Church. Photos/BIO Girls.
BIO Girls volunteer Brianna Gibbons goes over a weekly lesson in this photo from 2024.
The 12-week BIO Girls program wraps up with a 5K run in mid-May. In 2024, the girls ran through drenching rain and, says Brianna, “had a great time” regardless.
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
“Beautiful inside and out.”
That’s the inspiration behind BIO Girls, a Fargo-based after-school program for young girls created to shape their self-esteem, help them build healthy relationships and learn to appreciate their bodies at an age when lack of confidence often prompts anxious insecurity.
Moorhead High graduate Brianna Gibbons cites statistics that bear that out. “Research has shown that more than 50% of girls that age experience low body esteem. One in three say their mental health is not good, and one in eight report thoughts of suicide,” she says, citing research conducted through the 12-year-old program. “After taking part in our program, seven in 10 have told us they’ve experienced an increase in self-esteem, and 50% report a decrease in anxiety symptoms.”
Brianna is the volunteer site director of Moorhead’s newest program. Girls in grades 2 through 8 have begun 12 weeks of 90-minute sessions, held after school each Thursday at Lutheran Church of Christ the King. The director and the adults whom she has recruited as adult mentors get to know their contingent of BIO Girls through non-denominational devotions, life lessons, small-group mentoring, and a key part of the BIO program: noncompetitive running with new friends at the end of each session.
The three-month program culminates in a friendly 5K run dubbed “Find Your Kind.” Girls have the option of following a half-mile route as well as the full 5K course. Like the weekly runs, it eschews competition in favor of camaraderie. “Everyone is a winner,” Brianna smiles. “When the first few cross the finish line, they turn around and cheer the others as they finish.” This year’s event is scheduled May 14.
BIO Girls is the brainchild of Missy Heilman of Fargo, who observed how girls who participate in activities and athletics seemed to have more self-esteem than their less confident, more introverted peers. She developed a curriculum built around mental wellness, healthy relationships, leadership and kindness.
Forty girls took part in her first session at Olivet Lutheran Church in 2013. Over the past dozen years, that’s grown to an annual calendar of sessions in 120 sites across the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Some 3,300 girls in grades 2 through 6 have taken part in the confidence-building program. Brianna’s new group is Moorhead’s second.
Since its modest beginning, the BIO organization has grown into a nonprofit with a staff of 12. Its sites, however, are all directed and staffed by volunteers who, like Briana, are committed to encouraging the youngsters who take part.
Brianna discovered BIO Girls in 2019, the year the Moorhead High graduate concluded her studies in business and health-care administration at Concordia College. “I had an internship at Family Health Care, and learned about BIO Girls from my supervisor,” she says. “She loved it.
“She invited me to heard Missy speak about her vision and mission, and it fit so well with my values. Actually, I wish it had been around when I was going through those difficult years.”
Brianna volunteered to be a mentor at the Sanford Health site in 2020. “We met for three weeks … and then the whole world shut down,” she remembers, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program returned on a reduced scale in 2021, with smaller mask-wearing groups and a limited 5K event. For the next two years, she volunteered in full-sized sessions at Olivet Lutheran Church and BIO Girls headquarters led by the founder herself.
“I took part in a new site at Hope North in Fargo last year,” she reports, “and it inspired me to start my own this spring.”
Volunteer site directors like Brianna utilize a fully developed curriculum but are responsible for the rest of their sessions, from finding their own locations, choosing dates and recruiting mentors to connecting with potential participants and their families. Since the faith-based doesn’t recruit through the school system, she says, most of her outreach has been through word of mouth among teachers, parents and grandparents.
Finding her location was easy. “I’ve been a member of Christ the King since I was born,” she says. “I wanted to utilize our beautiful space.” The location near Ellen Hopkins Elementary School was a plus: “It relieves the transportation barrier, and serves a different area.” The more established Moorhead site at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is on the far south side of town.
One of Brianna’s favorite parts of BIO Girls is the physical activity that wraps up each weekly session. “I’ve been a runner myself for as long as I can remember,” she explains, beginning inside a running stroller propelled by her father Shawn. She started running track in 7th grade, and now regularly runs marathons in Fargo, the Twin Cities and other locales.
“Running teaches the girls how to set goals and put in the hard work to achieve their goals,” she says. “At the beginning, we alternate walking and running. The important thing is to trust your body, to know that you can get to the finish line. It’s not about who’s fastest. This is a place where girls can feel safe and confident.”
While Brianna’s group met for the first time Feb. 27, new members can apply for admission through next Wednesday, March 12. For more information, contact the BIO Girls office at 701-532-0245 or email Brianna at Mhd.MN.CTK@biogirls.org.
