Kaila Bonawitz ’25 Balances Athletics & Academics to Find Success

Students

Sports have always been a core part of Kaila Bonawitz’s identity. Growing up in an athletic family first in Hawai`i and later in Washington, she played soccer and volleyball, but an ACL and meniscus injury threw her plans of pursuing college athletics in doubt. She recovered, but had to switch gears to a new sport—golf. It was a decision that would ultimately lead her to the ��.

“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do without being able to play soccer or volleyball anymore,” says Bonawitz. “My dad was a golf superintendent and he encouraged me to try golf. I had tried before and I was so bad at it, but I decided to give it a try.”

In the world of competitive golf, where players often start at a very young age, Bonawitz is a relative newcomer to the sport, but she makes up for it with passion and hard work. She made her high school’s team and received an offer to play at Hawai`i Pacific University. It seemed like a dream come true. She was finally a college athlete, but keeping up with her schoolwork alongside team practices and tournaments was a challenge.

“It felt like I could either be a good student or a good athlete, but not both,” she says. “I wasn’t sure where to go, but I knew I wanted a smaller school with strong academics and a better balance. And my sister said, ‘My school has that.’”

Her older sister, Keiana Bonawitz ’23, was studying business administration at Puget Sound and was also a student-athlete, playing varsity volleyball and running on the university’s track and field team. She encouraged Bonawitz to come for a visit.

“The campus was beautiful and everyone was so nice, but the real selling point for me was that at Puget Sound, school comes first,” Bonawitz says. “The coaches want to support your academic success and the professors are all willing to help you reach your athletic goals, too.”

Bonawitz transferred to Puget Sound and joined the Logger golf team. As a transfer student, she’s found the campus to be a welcoming place and appreciated the chance to connect to clubs and student organizations at LogJam, the university’s annual festival to celebrate the start of the fall semester. She especially loves the small class sizes and deeply knowledgeable faculty who are interested in getting to know students and mentoring them. As a business administration major with a minor in communications, Bonawitz has appreciated the wide variety of classes available—from courses on business in Asia with Professor Nila Wiese to a hands-on strategic management and consulting class taught by Professor Lynnette Claire.

“That class was definitely tough, but it’s meant to be. You have to apply everything you’ve learned to a real-world problem,” Bonawitz recalls. “My group and I consulted for a real estate firm and it was awesome to be able to use the skills we’d gained to help this small business.”

Kaila Bonawitz ’25 practices with the golf team at Chambers Bay.

Another aspect of campus life that was a pleasant surprise was the size of the athletic community. Athletics is deeply engrained in the culture at Puget Sound, where one-in-three students participates in varsity sports. Since transferring, Bonawitz has been an active member of that community, including volunteering with the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC). During her senior year, she served on the organization’s executive leadership team as the social media chair, putting her marketing and communications knowledge to use to further SAAC’s messaging to students and support community service events throughout the year.

The strategies she’s learned in her marketing classes have also crept into her role with the Pi Beta Phi sorority, where she’s the co-director of PR and marketing, her student job with the university football team, and her involvement with the Ka Ohana Me Ke Aloha club and the Filipino American Student Association.

“I’m constantly looking at my notes from class to see what I can apply in a professional setting,” Bonawitz says. “I’ve done a lot of content creation and graphic design over the last three years, transferring skills from the classroom to the other parts of my life on campus.”

"The real selling point for me was that at Puget Sound, school comes first."

During the summer between her junior and senior years, she also interned at a wealth management firm, where she gained experience in business operations and marketing, as well as an introduction to the finance sector.

Looking ahead to life after graduation, Bonawitz is applying to jobs in finance and marketing, both in Western Washington and across the country. She is also considering becoming a certified financial planner, where she can put her passion for financial literacy to use helping individuals and families learn to budget, manage debt, save for emergencies, and plan for retirement. Wherever she ends up, she knows the lessons learned on the golf course, in community with her peers, and in the classroom—perseverance, passion, and teamwork—will help her find her way.

“I believe you get out what you put in and that really applies to college,” says Bonawitz. “So, I’ve tried to be really involved on campus and it’s been so rewarding to make connections, be a part of these communities, and contribute to something bigger than myself. Being a part of the Puget Sound community has helped me discover more about myself, giving me the space to grow, question, and lead with intention.”