On the right path
Junior Emanuel Vendrell Avagnina finds encouragement and support for his dream of being a doctor.
His housing assignment may say VWK, but you'll find this sophomore more hours a day in Roesch Library.
When he’s not there studying, biology major Emanuel Vendrell Avagnina is working the late shift at the front desk.
“I might be tired, but I can have a smile for you,” said Vendrell, who shared a story of a nighttime hunt through the stacks for a book for a fellow student. “I like interacting with people who see the library as a home.”
Vendrell said he draws energy from being with and serving others. In 2024, he joined premed major Sarah Sepulveda in starting the UD chapter of Medlife, an international nonprofit. The duo traveled last December to learn from and with residents in the under-resourced mountain communities outside of Lima, Peru. They instructed children on teeth brushing, handed out medications and discussed barriers to preventative health screenings.
Vendrell also assisted a doctor who identified a 40-year-old woman with a deep chest cough as having tuberculosis. Vendrell said he was shocked that such a young woman could have a disease that is highly preventable and treatable in the U.S. It reinforced his intended vocation in medicine. “I’m on the right path,” he told himself. “I want to do this.”
That trip almost didn’t happen when he lost funding in October. As a Flyer Promise Scholar, Vendrell turned to his program’s student success advisors, Kathleen Henderson ’86 and Beverly Jenkins ’78. They offered resources that support study abroad and experiential learning opportunities.
Flyer Promise also provides academic support. Spring semester, Vendrell got a C on his first organic chemistry test and worried his med school dream might be out of reach. Henderson also noticed. She encouraged Vendrell to meet with his professor and attend supplemental instruction sessions — and she followed up the next week to ensure he had. By mid-semester, his grade was up to a B.
“There are people who really care about my success at the University,” said Vendrell, who came to UD from a Marianist high school in Puerto Rico. UD has become his second home, he said, a place that he knows will support him no matter his career goal or future destination— which in December will be another Medlife trip, this time to Costa Rica.
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A version of this article appears in print in the Summer 2025 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 37. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE