The career fair, located in the Englewood neighborhood, was hosted by Urban Male Network — a program that empowers young men of color through mentorship, personal growth and professional development, providing services to more than 250 students from the city's west side to the south suburbs.
On Tuesday, two days after the Bears' 47-42 victory in Cincinnati, Odunze spoke to 65 students from three high schools and one elementary school about a variety of topics, including what his career as a professional athlete entails, how he navigated high school and college as a student-athlete and how he stays inspired.
"What originally inspired me to play was Devin Hester," Odunze told the students. "He's a local legend around here. He's the greatest returner of all time, so I was watching his highlight tapes on YouTube and I was like, 'man I want to be like him when I grow up.' So that was really how I started, but your inspiration changes.
"Now I do it for my family, for y'all, hopefully to inspire y'all and just to give an example to the next generation about how to go out there and handle your business and have fun playing sports because sports brought a lot to me."
For the athletes in the room, Odunze's advice and authentic responses were motivating. Jordan, the sophomore quarterback at Sarah E. Good STEM Academy — one of the high schools present — had an additional conversation about his football journey with Odunze after the panel.
"Him being here just opens up opportunities, open doors for us to reach out to people that's at the higher level," Jordan shared. "So now I can know what I need to do to even get myself to that level. Him basically saying to get my name out there, to get my tape out there, post on social, really, to just help myself get out there more."