About Shay Dean
Dr. Shay Byron Dean was born in New York and raised in the Chicago area in a modest environment. His creativity and appreciation of aesthetics were evident as early as his first grade of school, when he excelled in the Gifted Program for Creative Thinking. Shay considers that experience the beginning of his journey to be the best that he could be. “When your parents and teachers plant the seed of confidence at an early age, it carries you throughout your life,” says Shay. In high school, Shay combined high academic achievement with extracurricular activities including participation on the football, basketball, and baseball teams. His peers elected him student class president and president of the National Honor Society in his senior year. Art continued to be a prevailing theme, for he won numerous awards, including Illinois Young Black Achiever, and Afro-Academic Cultural Technological and Scientific Olympics Regional Sculpture Champion. In addition, Shay was the recipient of the David A. Robinson Humanitarian Award honoring his community leadership and volunteer work. Presenting several pieces of his artwork to one of his childhood heroes, Michael Jordan, was another highlight of his senior year.
