From Paralympic Dreams to Special Education: Catching Up With Kayla Bolnick
Eight years after winning the 2016 SPORTS ’N SPOKES Junior Athlete of the Year award, Kayla Bolnick has traded swimming lanes for classroom spaces. The former competitive swimmer who once had Paralympic aspirations is now 23 years-old and pursuing a graduate degree in special education at Western Oregon University.
Academic Journey
“I graduated in 2019 from high school. I went off to college at that point. I went to community college first. I think that was just kind of, for me, it was just the best place to end up,” Bolnick explained during our recent catch-up interview.
After completing her general education requirements, she transferred to Western Oregon University to study elementary education, graduating in winter 2023 before immediately enrolling in graduate school. Her path to becoming an educator wasn’t always clear.
“I’ve always wanted to do special ed,” Bolnick says. “But my degree [program] didn’t come out exactly when I wanted.”
This unexpected change forced her to switch her major, leading her to pursue elementary education instead. However, she gradually realized that elementary education was not the field she truly wanted to pursue.
The determination that once propelled her through swimming and track and field competitions has served her well in school. Now in her final year of graduate school, she’ll complete her program next spring.
When asked if she plans to pursue a doctorate, Bolnick laughed: “No. I’m done… Maybe later in life, but now I want to go straight into it. I want to work. I’m very excited to get into working.”
A Life Mentor
Perhaps most touching in Bolnick’s journey is a planned student teaching placement alongside the very learning specialist who once saved her from dropping out of high school—a meaningful full-circle moment from her past.
“My freshman year of high school… I just struggled so much in school,” Bolnick revealed. “It was to the point where I was just like, I can’t, I can’t do this, and I just needed more support, and luckily, I had an amazing special education teacher who gave me that support and was like, you got this. You’re fine.”
That teacher, Bryn Card, became one of her biggest supporters. “I would not be the person I am today without him,” she said. “He was my biggest supporter in high school. Of course, my family was too. But he and my family were the biggest supporters I had in high school, and it was fantastic. I academically would not be where I was at without them. So it’s going to be really fun. I’m really, really excited.”
As she prepares to graduate and secure a position in the school district she’s been part of since first grade, Bolnick finds particular joy in connecting with students who see themselves reflected in her.
“It’s really cool to see children in wheelchairs recognize that connection with me. I volunteer in a class with a student who uses a wheelchair, and on our first day together, they looked at me and said, ‘you’re in a wheelchair too.’ I simply replied, ‘I am.’ That shared experience created an instant bond between us—just two people connecting over navigating life from a wheelchair.”
These moments reinforce her conviction that she’s found her true calling. As she puts it simply: “I’ve learned that’s definitely where I need to be. It’s it’s great.”
Balancing a Sport and Social Life
”I have a lot of people telling me to get back at any sport,” says Bolnick. “But my current focus is school. It’s a lot, obviously, but here and there, I’ll do things. I recently went skiing a couple of weeks ago, which was so fun, and I occasionally swim.”
As a child, Bolnick believed sports would be her lifelong journey … a path to the Paralympic podium. However, as she matured, she came to understand that while physical activity remains important, it shouldn’t consume one’s entire existence.
“I totally thought I would be doing sports for the rest of my life,” says Bolnick. But now, as I’ve gotten older, I just realize being active is so important. But also, it doesn’t have to be your whole world. Because I realized in high school, I didn’t have a lot of social interactions with people. I think that really lacked in high school because I was so busy with sports.”
During high school, sports dominated her life completely, leaving little room for social interactions. She participated in sports six days a week, taking only Sundays off. This intensive schedule not only affected her physical well being but also impacted her friendships.
“I have great friends, but I just didn’t really communicate with them because I was so busy all the time,” says Bolnick. “Now I value friendship and life so differently because I’m not doing sports as much. I love doing sports, I love being active and it’s so important, but it’s not my main life.”
Coach Bolnick?
While stepping away from sports full-time has offered Bolnick more time to socialize and focus on her professional career, she has expressed enthusiastic interest in coaching, particularly since she began considering a teaching career.
“I would love to coach,” says Bolnick. “That’d be so fun. I started thinking about it [coaching] since going into teaching, I’ve always thought about coaching something. I don’t really know what, but knowing me, it would probably be swimming, just because that’s something that I know.
She’s confident in her ability to teach both adaptive and able-bodied swimmers, having mastered various tips and tricks throughout her years in the sport. If Bolnick were to return to sports in a significant way, she envisions it would be from a coaching perspective, with a focus on mentoring younger athletes and demonstrating techniques.
Though she hesitates to make definitive plans, she acknowledges a pattern in her life of eventually doing things she initially thought she wouldn’t pursue, leaving her future path open to possibilities.
It’s Not All About Winning
The SPORTS ’N SPOKES Junior Athlete of the Year award held immense significance for Bolnick. She hadn’t anticipated receiving it, reflecting her upbringing that taught her not to expect things in life.
“That award was huge for me,” says Bolnick. “I really wasn’t expecting it. It was crazy. I remember the moment of first learning about it, and anyone that knows me knows I cry a lot. I wear my heart on my sleeve. It’s what I do. But any award I get, I just sob. And that one …I just sobbed. It meant the world to me. It still means the world to me. To even be recognized at that level was huge.
As part of Bolnick’s SPORTS ’N SPOKES Junior Athlete of the Year award package in 2016, she received a custom-built Box wheelchair. Surprisingly, her chair remains part of her daily life years later.
“I still have it,” says Bolnick. ”I still fit in it perfectly. I haven’t changed at all.”
While she has a newer daily chair now, the Box wheelchair serves a practical purpose in Bolnick’s daily routine.
When returning home on rainy days, and doesn’t want to track the outdoors throughout her apartment, she transfers into her trusty Box wheelchair —a thoughtful solution that preserves her living space while maintaining a connection to her award-winning past.