Engineer, Quidditch, Female – Meet Amber Zehner

Female engineers can be one of the minorities that flourish here at Utah State University.

Amber Zehner, a freshman this year, is an engineering major who has big plans for herself and believes her gender isn’t an obstacle in her career but another part of her success.

Zehner is one of the freshman representatives for the Society of Women in Engineering. In addition to that, she is the assistant to the vice president of activities’ for the Best Buddies Program and a player on Utah State’s Quidditch Club.

“I am majoring in mechanical engineering with the desire to emphasize in aerospace and get a computer science minor,” Zehner said.

Born and raised in Glendale, Arizona, Zehner said she is adapting well to Logan. She is also enjoying her involvement in so many different USU  organizations.

“I have always had a passion for Best Buddies and did it in high school,” Zehner said. “So I knew I wanted to continue with the program.”

Makaila Kelso, the director of Best Buddies, said Zehner is hard-working, dedicated and passionate.

“After spending a short amount of time with her, you can see what an independent and strong woman she is,” Kelso said. “She also is a strong leader and is willing to step up and help whenever and wherever she can.”

Kelso said sometimes her own buddy prefers Zehner instead due to how kind and fun she is.

“She was the president of her chapter of Best Buddies in high school and she is still best friends with her best buddy,” she said.

Kelso said being an engineer says a lot about Zehner and her character.

“She isn’t afraid to go against the norm,” she said. “Regardless of gender, it takes a hard-working and dedicated person to get an engineering degree here at USU, I have very much respect for her for that reason alone.”

In regards to the Society of Women Engineers, Zehner said her dad found it while helping her search for scholarships.

“We think it’s great that she wants to be involved in a field that isn’t typical for a woman to pursue and will challenge her,” said Roger Zehner, Amber’s father.

Amber’s parents said she was very outgoing as a child. This led her to join and participate in a wide variety of activities.

“She has always wanted to try new things,” said Paula Zehner, Amber’s mother. “She is easy to get along with and is accepting of others.”

Amber knew immediately that the Society of Women Engineers was something she wanted to be involved with. Her dream job is to work as an aerospace engineer for NASA, and she felt this would better prepare her for the future.

Another extracurricular activity Amber participates with is the Utah State Quidditch team.

“I have always been a huge Harry Potter nerd,” she said. “So when I saw that Utah State had a Quidditch team I could not help but try out.”

Amber described Quidditch as a mixture between rugby, dodgeball and soccer. Two teams compete to score goals with a volleyball (also known as the quaffle) and capture the snitch ( a tennis ball in a yellow sock carried by another player in) to win the game. Zehner plays as the Wing Chaser number 27 and is a proud Hufflepuff.

Cameron VomBaur, Utah State’s Quidditch team captain, said Amber is one of the better shooters on the team.

“She’s come a long way with arm strength and physicality while maintaining the scoring, stamina, and quickness that was apparent since tryouts,” he said.

He described Zehner as a very happy and positive player that constantly adds to team moral. She has become integral in her dunking capabilities, and the team has even created a chant that goes along with her scoring.

“I’m not surprised that she’s in engineering,” VomBaur said. “She’s obviously very intelligent.”

There is a parallel between Quidditch and engineering, VomBaur believes, both requiring gender integration and mental drive. Zehner not only does well playing with men, but excels among them.

“I know that she’s very active with the with the Society of Women Engineers,which I would imagine reflects a desire to strengthen female presence in the field,” he said, “just as she provides strength to our female chasing corps on our fields.”

Zehner’s favorite class this year is a tie between her calculus and engineering graphics courses.

“I really enjoy working with the computer program which we use to design different things for my engineering graphics class,” she said.

Engineering, to Zehner, means creating what has never existed before.

“Engineering means designing and creating unique and new things to better advance our world,” she said, “We can’t move forward without having new thoughts, ideas and creations.”

Currently, Zehner does not feel disadvantaged in the engineering program based on her gender. She is fearful, however, of this becoming untrue in the future.

“I actually went to a conference in California with the Society of Women Engineers,” she said, “and one of the workshops I went to discussed how women do not have any performance gaps at all, but a confidence gap.”

Zehner advises other aspiring female engineers to simply be themselves and ignore any backlash they may receive.

“Who cares what anyone else says,” she said, “if you are doing something you are passionate about?”

Roger said that he and his wife are sometimes worried about how much their daughter has taken on for her first year of college.

“We always encouraged her to get involved with college life and experience as much as possible,” he said. “We trust that Amber will make the right decisions regarding her involvement and time management.”

When she does get stressed out about her workload, her parents said that they are always there to advise her to just do her best and never give up.

“But,” her father said, “we always tease her by saying ‘suck it up, buttercup.’”

Being originally from Arizona, Zehner is now living 12 hours away from home.

“We encouraged her to explore all her options towards her career choice,” Paula Zehner said, “However, we did think she would stay close to home in Arizona, but USU is not that far.”

Despite how much Amber Zehner has taken on, she feels like it’s the right amount for her.

“Sometimes I think I might have (taken on too much), but I think that once I got a schedule down,” she said, “I was able to keep everything under control.”

Zehner is very passionate about many different things, leading her to be involved in many different programs that the University has to offer.

“In the future, I may have to limit myself because the coursework will start to build up and become more challenging,” she said, “but for now, why not do everything and really enjoy where I am and what I am doing?”

An average day for Zehner consists of getting up at 5:45, going for a run, then heading to classes. After her three classes, alternating depending on the day, she either goes to a Best Buddies event, SWE event, or Quidditch practice. After that it’s homework and going to bed by 10 p.m.

“With all of this, I do not have much free time,” she said, “but I do love running and reading.”

— savannah.lund@aggiemail.usu.edu

@savannah_lund