Utah Tech Alumna Inspires Change Through Hands-On Learning in Kenya

While most college students spend their senior year preparing for finals and planning their next steps, Utah Tech University graduate Avery Zentner was busy making an impact that stretched far beyond the classroom – and even beyond national borders.

How Her Passion Started

Her journey began with the desire to make a difference in the world. Inspired by her brothers’ humanitarian work in Kenya, Avery took their vision a step further. This time, not building a school like her brothers had, but a medical clinic with a maternity wing in Shaka Village, a remote Kenyan community more than 20 kilometers from the nearest health facility.

“To hear that women were giving birth on the side of a dirt road because they couldn’t make it to a clinic just didn’t sit right with me,” Avery said. “I knew I had to do something.”

The Grand Opening of the Kenya Clinic

Working with Koins for Kenya, a nonprofit with deep roots in the region, Avery rallied students, raised funds and collaborated with local leaders to bring the project to life. Villagers played a crucial role in the construction effort, hauling water, carrying supplies and showing determination to improve healthcare access for their community.

By May, Avery and a small team of college students traveled to Kenya for the clinic’s grand opening. The community welcomed them with open arms as the first patients were treated in the new facility.

Avery’s Dream Came to Life at Utah Tech’s Lab

That same drive to make a tangible difference fueled Avery’s work while she was in school as well – not in a rural village, but in a high-tech research lab at Utah Tech’s Center for Precision Medicine & Functional Genomics. There, she spent years studying a rare neurological disease affecting children, using zebrafish as a genetic model.

Peering through a microscope, Avery meticulously injected zebrafish embryos to simulate human diseases at the molecular level, a process that can ultimately lead to life-saving medical breakthroughs.

“It takes a lot of focus,” she said. “Once you get into it, it’s a wonderful feeling. You almost lose yourself in it.”

What Our Polytechnic Mission Means – Hands-on Learning

Under the mentorship of Dr. Hung Yu Shih and Dr. Howard McLeod, Avery and her classmates gained experience typically reserved for graduate-level researchers.

“This is a prime example of a polytechnic education,” McLeod said. “I don’t know another place in the State of Utah where students are getting this type of training. They are graduating with real skills at hand.”

Using zebrafish, which share 70 percent of human genes, Utah Tech students can model diseases such as 4H Leukodystrophy, a rare condition causing nervous system degeneration in children.

Avery credits Utah Tech’s hands-on, active learning environment for shaping her both as a scientist and a humanitarian. “Something I’ve loved about Utah Tech is the hands-on experience,” Avery said. “The knowledge I’ve gained from doing experiments has given me confidence.”

Whether building clinics in Kenya or manipulating genes under a microscope, Avery embodies Utah Tech’s “active learning. active life.” philosophy. She is proof that when students combine compassion with curiosity, their impact can be felt worldwide, from African villages to the cutting edge of modern medicine.

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