For decades, some of the most brilliant students in the city showed their best at the Chicago public schools fair, but a Senior de Lane Tech stole the spotlight this year.
Divine Favor Osuji, who passes divine, does not only like science, he lives it and he also lives to help people in need.
Young people participating in the 75th Annual School Sciences Exhibition in Chicago at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry explore almost everything you can think of, food -specific food, and more.
But the divine project is personal.
“Growing up, I saw my grandparents suffer from many different health complications,” he said. “We spend all this money on these health devices, but it also put a horrible economic bump in our pockets. I just wanted other families not to go through the same emotional suffering.”
Divine therefore decided to find a way for people to monitor their health without breaking the bank.
“I focused on the measurement of three primary health vital; which were levels of heart rate, temperature and blood oxygen,” he said. “The whole was to try to obtain precise health measures with vital signs, also keeping the cost as small as possible.”
It was not the first divine rodeo. For other scientific fairs, he created a prosthetic hand linked to a webcam.
“It’s a bit like Shadowboxing, in a sense, where whatever movement you have made in front of this camera, the prosthesis would imitate this movement,” he said.
He also developed a profitable means of eliminating the garbage from an area populated in his native Nigeria. All his projects focus on his fundamental belief that “anyone should be able to obtain adequate health services, and there should not be a price on this subject”.
Lane Tech chemistry professor Lucy Young directs the Alpha-Stem and Science departments, and says that her determination is incredible.
“Divine is one of these special children,” he said. “Divine has a very creative energy for him. He sees a problem in the world, and he wants to try to repair it.”
Divine said his parents were “driving factors” for him, and his grandfather urged him to think big, even as a little boy.
“We would have many intellectual debates, even if I was only 5 years old,” he said.
Intellectual curiosity is what brought together divine scientists and other budding scientists at the fair. This means the world of Carrie Kaestner, professor at Von Steuben Metro Science Center, who helps everything together.
“Their attention, their professionalism, it just gives me hope for the future,” she said. “These are our future voters, and they go out, and they will create it all and make the world better.”
It is definitely the divine’s plan. CBS News Chicago asked what he thought that his “super power” is.
“The ability, I suppose, to recognize when I am wrong because it also gives me time to improve,” he said. “I am not incredibly arrogant. I still have a lot to learn.”
Divine plans to specialize in biomedical engineering at college. Next year, he will be a former former student, according to the traces of other people who have become engineers, doctors and teachers, many of whom said to return to the scientific fair as judges.
Earlier this year, Divine was appointed national champion STEM 2025 for developing this profitable prosthetic hand.
Do you know someone of a person or a place that brings you joy? We want to share your story.
Send us your “eye on chicago” ideas using the form below (or click here):