Mahima, our latest Keyfund superstar!

Article by Rossie Ashton

Having always been a talented dancer, Mahima first heard about Keyfund when she was performing in an event called CultuRISE back in the summer of 2010. She met some Keyfund facilitators who told her about the Keyfund BLAST which was taking place. Mahima, then 15, and her friends immediately wanted to get a group together to make their dance crew more professional. The group called themselves the Urban Giirlsz and bought a video camera so they could watch themselves back to see where to improve. They also bought some props such as masks and facepaints to use in their performances. The Keyfund panel loved the girls’ performance and presentation on their skills development and were delighted to reward them with the money to see their project become reality. Enterprising Mahima went on to teach lessons in Bollywood and Street dance at Dance City in Newcastle, charging members of her community and the public £2 entry which she then rolled forward to pay the next week’s room rent.

However, this was just the start of Mahima’s Keyfund journey. Having been so impressed with her dedication to Keyfund, when we asked facilitators to recommend young people to form part of one of our steering groups, Mahima’s name was top of the list. The steering group was put together to empower young people to take ownership of the Big Lottery funded Keyfund project, Big, Bigger, Biggest. To start planning the Biggest celebration, Mahima, along with 6 other young people she had never met before, set off for Buckinghamshire for a residential weekend. “I was so scared to begin with,” Mahima tells me, “because this was the first time I had ever spent a night away from my family. But I had the best time ever! We had so much fun planning ideas and playing different games outside. The best bit was sitting around a campfire at night eating marshmallows. I love teamwork and got on so well with so many different types of people from all walks of life that I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet before.”
The steering group came up with the fantastic idea for the Biggest to put on the Keyfund Winter Extravaganza which featured Joe McElderry as the headline act. This free concert with free transport was available to well over 1000 young people across the North East. Mahima and the steering group interviewed large numbers of local performers, whittling down the line-up to a select number of up and coming North East based singers and dancers. Two of these have gone on to sign recording deals. Mahima wanted to give the gig a personalised feel and designed the winning ‘wintery’ looking logo which was printed onto a huge 30 foot banner.
Mahima tells me, “I feel like Winter Extravaganza helped me grown in confidence and I’m much better at communicating, especially with people in power and authority. During the concert I had to stop a man coming back stage where only the performers were allowed. However, when the ‘man’ told me he was Joe McElderry’s dad it was quite funny, but he said I’d done well to question him!”

When I asked Mahima what was most challenging about the Biggest, she told me, “it was hard trying to organise everything so I really developed my skill of planning my time and energy. We had such a busy workload so we realised if we didn’t plan properly we wouldn’t be able to do it. It’s really helped me with my college work now so I have a well-planned timetable and I’m permanently putting reminders in my phone of appointments with tutors and deadlines.” Mahima is currently in 6th form at Excelsior College. “I’ve also learnt a useful lesson about making decisions. For example I was approached about becoming an Ambassador for the college but I knew I should focus on my studies so I turned it down.”

Mahima is studying three sciences at A level in the hope to do medicine and become a surgeon. You’d think that would keep her busy enough, but not Mahima: “I’m trying hard at the moment to get a job. I want to get more experience for my CV but of course it would also be useful to make some money.” “I believe that my experience with Keyfund is the best thing on my CV and I really think it will help me to get a job because I can tell them about all the responsibility I have had.” “I’ve also just been asked to help another fundraising group out with an event they are planning for the Teenage Cancer Trust. They heard I’d helped with the Winter Extravaganza so that’s why they got in touch. If I do get any more free time, I also want to help volunteering at Thomas Bewick school where my sister goes.”

It’s probably little wonder then that Mahima recently won an award at the Excelsior Academy awards evening. Across all 4 Excelsior schools and the College, Mahima was picked from around 1800 students to win the Tony Pattison Award for Contribution to the Community. Mahima tells us, “it was so fun getting the award even though I was so nervous to go up on stage. I really couldn’t believe I was going to win it until they called my name. For me community means being able to communicate with younger people and attract them to do some of the things I do and help them celebrate their talents. The best thing about winning the award was knowing I had made my school proud.” I asked Mahima how she felt about being a role model. Her modest answer was, “Wow. Role models are other people who I look up to. That’s not me, I’m just an average teenage girl.” Well, Mahima, that might be the first time you’ve said anything we disagree with. Far from being normal, we thing you are exceptional.