Alumnus mentored by BCS teachers, finds freedom from addiction

Katie Meredith

The abrupt end to Jeremy Bohnett’s (’08) high school basketball career on the Vikings #1 ranked team, as devastating as it was, would spark a beginning – a journey that would lead to freedom from addiction and a life he could’ve never imagined

Bohnett, a rising basketball and baseball star, was asked to step down from the basketball team his senior year. His teenage battle with addiction closed his basketball chapter and continued to turn other areas of his life upside down. It wasn’t until coming home after his first semester of college that Bohnett saw where his life was heading. An intervention that included mentor teachers from Bellevue Christian set him on course for a brighter future at a rehab center in Arkansas.

Meantime, his sister Holly (‘10), started college at Harding University near where Bohnett was working his recovery. Knowing school could help propel his future forward, Jeremy walked onto the Harding baseball team and played there for three years, playing outfield and making new friends.

Arkansas would play host to another big development in his life, it would be where he would meet his future wife, Anna. Their adventurous spirits led them back to the Pacific Northwest, but not before hiking the Appalachian Trail and the Te Araroa trail weaving 1800 miles through New Zealand. Bohnett says the outdoor adventures he has taken helped reconnect him with God – with His creation – and discover a closeness to nature that he had not experienced before.

Today, Bohnett is the SDR Director at Leadr, a people management software company. His wife works in speech therapy on the Eastside and they had their first child in 2019. Bohnett says he is thankful for the mentors he had at Bellevue Christian, who recognized more of his gifts than he was capable of seeing at the time. He is happy to have had the opportunity to share his journey and recovery with BCS basketball players in the last couple of years, an opportunity made possible by his friend and current BCS coach Brandon Kats.

– Amy Bruce, Alumni Relations

Alumnus mentored by BCS teachers, finds freedom from addiction