We were thrilled when Vega alums Liz Trenk Prusinsky and Alexandra Smith both made trips to visit camp last summer with their young families.  We were elated when we learned that they were interested and able to return to Vega in 2018, Liz as a group leader and Alex as our resident certified pediatric nurse practitioner in primary care (CPNP-PC)!   We can hardly wait for everyone to get to know these wonderful ladies this summer (and their adorable baby girls!), and asked them to share how their paths led them back to their summer home.  – Kyle and Emily

Part 2 – Alex

Liz Trenk Prusinsky (right) and Alexandra Smith (right) during their camper years

I am so excited to be back for my 9th summer at Camp Vega for Girls! I was lucky enough to call Vega my summer home from 1995 to 2002, and summer 2018 will be my first year back as a staff member.

Since leaving my camp years behind, I attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine for two years, but then realized that Maine winters were NOT the same as Maine summers and left to finish my Bachelor’s degree at Scripps College in Claremont, California. From California, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee where I attended Vanderbilt University to pursue my Masters Degree in Nursing with a focus in primary care pediatrics.

Upon graduating Vanderbilt, my husband and I moved to Boston, Massachusetts where I have worked as a Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in both private practices and a community health center.

So what brings me back to Vega now? In September 2016 I attended the Camp Vega reunion at 35 weeks pregnant, and immediately felt like I needed to be back at camp. During the reunion, Kyle and Emily talked to me about working up at camp as part of the health care staff, but I just couldn’t see how it would be feasible given my job at the time. Fast-forward to July 2017 when I brought my husband and then 9-month-old daughter to Vega to see what all the fuss was about. After our day up at camp, my husband turned to me and said, ” I’ve never seen you smile this much since Emma was born. Whatever you have to do to work here, you’ll make it work”. While I struggled with the idea of leaving my job in order to fulfill my dream of working at camp for 6 weeks, I knew it was something I’d regret if I never did it. So here I am, T-146 days until my dream unfolds, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Thank you Kyle and Emily for this amazing opportunity, and I cannot wait to return to my summer home and allow my daughter to experience some of the magic Camp Vega has to offer.

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