Thinking of others

Doctoral student creates nonprofit for STEM, teens

After earning her master’s degree in Butte, Montana, Augustina Osabutey worked with individuals on a fundraising project to dig a well for a community in her home country of Ghana.

Osabutey, who is now working on a doctorate in South Dakota State University’s agricultural and biosystems engineering department, received a favorable response and was able to construct wells for two communities.

“We still have money to construct one well and that will take place when I’m done with school,” said Osabutey, who hopes to complete her doctorate by December 2022. “Because of the mining in Butte, they understand water contamination. And they’re still dealing with it.”

The wells are just one project done by the altruistic Osabutey, who got the idea to help others as a 10-year-old in Axim, Ghana. Growing up in a rural area, she felt intimidated when visiting relatives in Accra.

Motivated by trip

“I couldn’t speak English well. I felt intimidated when a cousin introduced me to her friends. She had a lot of opportunities. My cousin participated on TV programs and had a good educational background,” she said, noting English is one of four language she speaks today. “When I got to see some of the ladies in their ministerial positions who worked with my cousin’s father, it really motivated me.

“I used to peek in people’s windows to watch TV because we didn’t have one. In my mind, those people were images, not real people, so getting to see them and that they really existed was … really motivating and quite powerful,” Osabutey continued. “I went home, remembered the advantages my cousin had, and decided I needed to work hard in school, be a very good person and figure out how to get some money to help others. When I looked around me, almost all of the teenagers had the same problem I did.”

That inspiration is the driving force behind her nonprofit organization, Teen Leadership and Entrepreneur Development Foundation, which mentors and coaches Ghanian teenagers to pursue careers in the STEM fields. Osabutey used her earnings from participating in the nation’s mandatory community service program to start the nonprofit.

Her first event was a two-day program that focused on topics including, What Career Suits Me? Managing time effectively for a purpose driven life. Her second event focused on careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She estimates the nonprofit has helped more than 1,000 Ghanian teens since 2017. She would like to see it grow to introduce 25,000 teenagers to STEM within five years and create scholarships.

“The first one was huge. I had to talk to my bosses about what I was doing and how I needed their help,” she said. Osabutey’s father and siblings also helped with parking, placing chairs and serving food.

“The students don’t know there are a lot of careers out there,” Osabutey continued. “If we are able to introduce them to a mechanical engineer who will talk about how he or she got into that career, what the job prospects are, what is the future for mechanical engineers or how do mechanical engineers solve problems in that country, we might spark something. The students do not know what they want to do.”

Skips meals

The nonprofit also holds online programs on coding and programming classes, talks on STEM careers and environmental management and protection programs. To help hold those, Osabutey occasionally skips lunch and donates those funds to the organization.

While the nonprofit has other staff members in Ghana, Osabutey puts a lot of responsibility on herself to provide funds, whenever possible. That’s something she plans to continue doing as she aspires to be a college professor.

“I’ve really struggled to get to where I’m at now, and I don’t want to see anyone go through that,” Osabutey said.

At SDSU

That’s part of the drive that allowed her to participate in two United Nations programs before starting her master’s degree at Montana Tech, where she met Xufei Yang, who is now an assistant professor at SDSU.

“She is a very hard-working and reliable person whom I can count on. More importantly, I appreciate and admire her dedication to community service and STEM education,” said Yang, adding Osabutey has published one paper and has others under review. “She performed well as a master’s student and worked hard in the lab and field. I am glad to see that she continues her outstanding performance here at SDSU. I don’t usually go to the lab on weekends but every time I show up, Augustina is here working.”

That connection allowed Osabutey to start at SDSU in January 2020. What happened after her arrival has been good and bad.

The good has been developing relationships with faculty members. The bad has been the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was scary with the school on lockdown,” she said. “Even if I wanted to go home, I didn’t know what was going on in Ghana.

Ghana’s not a place to get sick. I have family there, so I am always praying COVID-19 wouldn’t hit them.”

She appreciates the time working with SDSU engineering faculty Yang, Gary Anderson ’75 and Kyungnan Min as she is working on nutrients conservation and wastewater treatment. 

“I’m learning a lot from them. When I need them, they are there for me,” Osabutey said. “They’re all great to work with. Although I love the wastewater stuff, I didn’t take many classes in that aspect, but they all work with me, and I’ve learned a lot.

“I’m enjoying my time here. I’m hoping to also learn something from the International Relations Council. I took a position as an ex-officio with the group for the academic year so I’m hoping to learn something from them.

“My dad has said ‘Augustina, you don’t have to be doing all of these things,’ but he realized he can’t stop me and has been supportive since then,” she said. “I want to
instill discipline in the young ones and a
sense of giving back to society.”

                                                  – Matt Schmidt