By Julie Freer
Legal News
Schuyler Pruis has countless memories and friendships thanks to Camp Henry, a summer and fall youth retreat that traces its roots to 1937. He first visited in 2016 when he was a sophomore at Calvin University, helping lead a middle school youth group from his church.
"There was something about the place that seemed special to me and just made me feel at home," said Pruis, an associate attorney in Varnum's Grand Rapids office.
The following three summers, Pruis worked as a counselor at Camp Henry, located in Newaygo, about 35 miles north of Grand Rapids. He also met and eventually proposed to his future wife, Madison, who was also a counselor, at Camp Henry.
When the opportunity arose to give back by joining the organization's board of directors, Pruis says, "With all that Camp Henry has meant to me, it was an easy ‘yes.’"
He is one of 16 board members overseeing camp operations and programming, and ensuring campers experience time in nature, and learn, grow and bond together.
"A lot of who I am today has come from the experiences I had at Camp Henry, so I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to hopefully help others have a similar experience that I did," said Pruis.
During Pruis' three summers as a counselor, he worked with students in the 8-17 age bracket, leading them through a variety of activities each day. The most enjoyable element, he says, was bonding with both his fellow staffers and campers.
"Working at a summer camp has a way of bonding people together in a special way," said Pruis. "It is an incredibly high energy job that also requires a lot of focus to make sure your campers are cared for, sometimes on little to no sleep. But it is also one of the most fulfilling jobs I will ever have because of the impact that you get to have on campers.
The further I’ve gotten away from my experience as a counselor, the more I’ve come to realize that a lot of the life lessons I learned in those three summers are more applicable to me now than they ever have been."
Pruis grew up in Grand Rapids in a family of Calvin University alums. His major was in secondary education with a focus in history/social studies, but during the fall of his senior year, he studied in New Zealand, taking courses in sustainability and ecology, that set him on a path towards thinking about environmental law as a career.
After his student teaching experience, he decided to go to law school rather than become a teacher.
After graduating from Calvin in 2019, Pruis took 18 months off before law school and did a term of service with AmeriCorps in Lansing doing data management for a Michigan nonprofit.
"When the time came to apply to law schools, I was looking for a bit of the opposite experience," said Pruis. "Having spent the majority of my life in Michigan, I was looking to go outside the state for law school to experience a new place."
Wake Forest University in North Carolina had a great reputation as a school with an up-and-coming environmental law program, a legal writing program, and a variety of clinics to participate in, he says.
Pruis is now part of the Business and Corporate Practice Team at Varnum, focusing his practice on business and transactional matters. He helps clients navigate mergers and acquisitions, advises emerging companies and works with private and family-owned businesses to provide strategic and practical legal advice on a variety of business law issues.
Pruis says Varnum's free agency program for new associates has allowed him the opportunity to try different practice groups, rather than be siloed into a specific practice area.
"I had the opportunity to try corporate work and found I really enjoyed it," said Pruis. "What I’ve really come to appreciate about the work I do for the Business and Corporate Practice Team, beyond the people I work with, is helping people navigate major moments in their businesses and careers, whether that be helping them get their business off the ground, selling their business, or providing them with expertise to get them over any speed bumps they might encounter along the way.
“And while I’m looking forward to continuing to learn from and work with the corporate practice team, I’m hoping that as my knowledge and confidence increases, I can also find ways for the corporate work to intersect with my interest in environmental law."
Legal News
Schuyler Pruis has countless memories and friendships thanks to Camp Henry, a summer and fall youth retreat that traces its roots to 1937. He first visited in 2016 when he was a sophomore at Calvin University, helping lead a middle school youth group from his church.
"There was something about the place that seemed special to me and just made me feel at home," said Pruis, an associate attorney in Varnum's Grand Rapids office.
The following three summers, Pruis worked as a counselor at Camp Henry, located in Newaygo, about 35 miles north of Grand Rapids. He also met and eventually proposed to his future wife, Madison, who was also a counselor, at Camp Henry.
When the opportunity arose to give back by joining the organization's board of directors, Pruis says, "With all that Camp Henry has meant to me, it was an easy ‘yes.’"
He is one of 16 board members overseeing camp operations and programming, and ensuring campers experience time in nature, and learn, grow and bond together.
"A lot of who I am today has come from the experiences I had at Camp Henry, so I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to hopefully help others have a similar experience that I did," said Pruis.
During Pruis' three summers as a counselor, he worked with students in the 8-17 age bracket, leading them through a variety of activities each day. The most enjoyable element, he says, was bonding with both his fellow staffers and campers.
"Working at a summer camp has a way of bonding people together in a special way," said Pruis. "It is an incredibly high energy job that also requires a lot of focus to make sure your campers are cared for, sometimes on little to no sleep. But it is also one of the most fulfilling jobs I will ever have because of the impact that you get to have on campers.
The further I’ve gotten away from my experience as a counselor, the more I’ve come to realize that a lot of the life lessons I learned in those three summers are more applicable to me now than they ever have been."
Pruis grew up in Grand Rapids in a family of Calvin University alums. His major was in secondary education with a focus in history/social studies, but during the fall of his senior year, he studied in New Zealand, taking courses in sustainability and ecology, that set him on a path towards thinking about environmental law as a career.
After his student teaching experience, he decided to go to law school rather than become a teacher.
After graduating from Calvin in 2019, Pruis took 18 months off before law school and did a term of service with AmeriCorps in Lansing doing data management for a Michigan nonprofit.
"When the time came to apply to law schools, I was looking for a bit of the opposite experience," said Pruis. "Having spent the majority of my life in Michigan, I was looking to go outside the state for law school to experience a new place."
Wake Forest University in North Carolina had a great reputation as a school with an up-and-coming environmental law program, a legal writing program, and a variety of clinics to participate in, he says.
Pruis is now part of the Business and Corporate Practice Team at Varnum, focusing his practice on business and transactional matters. He helps clients navigate mergers and acquisitions, advises emerging companies and works with private and family-owned businesses to provide strategic and practical legal advice on a variety of business law issues.
Pruis says Varnum's free agency program for new associates has allowed him the opportunity to try different practice groups, rather than be siloed into a specific practice area.
"I had the opportunity to try corporate work and found I really enjoyed it," said Pruis. "What I’ve really come to appreciate about the work I do for the Business and Corporate Practice Team, beyond the people I work with, is helping people navigate major moments in their businesses and careers, whether that be helping them get their business off the ground, selling their business, or providing them with expertise to get them over any speed bumps they might encounter along the way.
“And while I’m looking forward to continuing to learn from and work with the corporate practice team, I’m hoping that as my knowledge and confidence increases, I can also find ways for the corporate work to intersect with my interest in environmental law."
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