Alison Kavanaugh, Camp Kanata Alumni

Pediatrician-UNC Pediatrics; preceptor-UNC Children's Primary Care

Years as a Camper: 1986 (age 9) - 1992 (age 15)

Years as a Trainee: CILT 1993, CIT 1994

Years as a Staff Member: 1994 - 1997

Did you hold any positions? Cabin counselor in cabin 6, cabin 17

Current Profession and Title/Years in role:

Pediatrician at UNC Pediatrics at Southpoint in Durham, and preceptor at UNC Children's Primary Care in Chapel Hill. I have been a pediatrician for 18 years and I have been with UNC for 8 years.

Can you provide a brief overview of your job responsibilities?

I have been a pediatrician for 18 years and I have been with UNC for 8 years. As a pediatrician, I am the primary doctor for patients from birth to age 21. I do checkups for them, fill out their forms for camp, school, and sports, and see them when they are sick. I fill out lots of Camp Kanata physican forms every year!

Do you have any career advice for members of our Camp community?

Follow your passion and find a career where you will find meaning and enjoy going to work every day. I always wanted to be a doctor, and I always loved kids. I wanted to have a career where I could help people. Being a pediatrician is a great way that I can help people every day in a professional role and still get to have fun with my kid patients!

What do you believe have been some of your greatest personal and professional accomplishments? Is there a goal toward which you are currently working?

Professionally, I am most proud of the way my relationships with my patients give me the chance to help them learn how to be healthier. In addition to directly caring for my patients, I have another role in which I am a preceptor and teacher for the resident physicians who are gaining their specialization in pediatrics. Helping to train these young physicians is also something that is really important to me and that I am proud to have accomplished. In terms of personal accomplishments, I'm most proud of my wonderful family and all the time that I am privileged to spend with them.

What is a lesson or skill that you have taken from camp and used in your personal or professional life? How do the values or skills you learned at Camp show up in your everyday work and/or personal life?

As a pediatrician, being 'For The Kids' is a part of my every day life! I use a perspective that centers each child's experience, and childrens' experiences in general, to inform my decision-making and recommendations for specific patients as well as in my teaching role and in my role as a voter and advocate for childrens' health issues.

Is there a person or a situation that had a huge influence on you while you were at Camp? How and why did they/it impact you?

I remember my years as a CILT and a CIT to be my most formative years at Camp. The counselors who trained me as well as my fellow trainees taught me about how important, special and valuable the role of a counselor can be to the kids. I remember an activity where our CILT leader asked us to bring our most valued possession at Camp to our meeting. We didn't know why. At that meeting, she asked us to leave that most valued object in the care of one of our fellow trainees for the next 24 hours. This was to illustrate how much trust parents are putting into the counselors when they bring their precious child and drop them off at camp.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Your friends and your family are everything! Love them, appreciate them, stay in touch with them, tell them how much they mean to you. And don't take up so much space painting your name in Arts & Crafts! (we didn't know back then what it would turn into!)

What three words best describe you? Hopeful, responsible, caring.

What is your favorite camp memory?

As a camper, definitely camp store! They would call "Caaaaamp Stooore" over the loudspeakers and we would come running from all over camp to stand in line for candy bars and soda! As a trainee, cleaning up the dining hall and being silly and singing along with the CD player with the other CILTs. As a counselor, leading campers on Outposting adventures around camp and just being part of such an awesome group of staff. As a parent, getting to see the whole camp experience come full circle and enjoying my kids' experiences of being campers and even a trainee and counselor has been just incredible to be a part of!