where he attended Hyde Park High School ( now Hyde Park Academy ) where he continued playing football . Football gave Shine the competitive spirit to become a winner by channeling his aggressiveness which shaped the way he would think for the rest of his life . One day a lady from his church who worked at his school named Mary Thomas asked young Kevin to join the Drama Club becoming Vice President his first year and winning Actor of the Year . The young overachiever began writing poetry , scripts , and also directing . A young lady had Kevin to direct her monologue which led to her winning the city competition for the NAACP ACT-SO Awards ( Afro- Academic , Cultural , Technological and Scientific Olympics ) and went on to compete nationally . This prestigious award is a year-long program designed to recruit , stimulate , and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African – American high school students .
Because Shine directed it , he was obliged to attend . The young talent was on a roll with directing and writing scripts . He went to a Minister at his church to help him publish the scripts he had written . With the backing of the church and his family , he began producing . He got picked up to direct a payed professional play at Columbia before he even attended . Before graduating high school , Kevin got the chance to meet poet and teacher , Gwendolyn Brooks who was the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950 . She worked with the young student and poet on his poem called Slave Girl that he still memorizes and to this day . Kevin says he owes her for inspiring him and giving him that opportunity . With all of those accomplishments and accolades , Kevin applied to Columbia College in Chicago and was accepted . It was there he became top directing student in his class . The chairperson of the drama department there took Kevin under his wings and direction to help perfect his craft .
Shine recalls the teacher being tough on him breaking him down so he could understand that just because he was good , he needed to humble himself and learn the process . The accomplished student won an award for Outstanding Achievement which rewarded him the opportunity to go on his first major musical tour which exposed him to a lot of people in the music industry . Acts on the tour included , the rap trio 3 rd Base , Big Daddy Kane , Digital Underground , Queen Latifah , Monie Love , and a host of others . It was not a paid gig but this was Shine ’ s first opportunity to do
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