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At the start of the pandemic lockdowns, Miami Palmetto High School junior Devica Shah turned a family painting project into a fundraiser that will hopefully help young women in India continue their education.
“During quarantine my mom wanted to do something, and we had these canvas tiles and she said, oh, let’s paint these,” Shah says.
Originally, the dancer she painted on the six by eight canvas tile was going to be in her room, but she wasn’t sure if it was the right painting to hang in there, so she waited.
“After a week later, I thought, why don’t I turn it into a community service project,” she says. “I started making paintings.”
She had a dance recital coming up and she asked the Jill Mallory Studio of Dance if she could have a table and sell the paintings. She also took orders for custom paintings.
“I got 10 orders,” she says.
By the beginning of this February she had completed 70 paintings and raised $900. The first summer she sold them for $10 each but this past summer she raised prices to $15 each. She has an Instagram account for the project.
She expects the money to go to the organization Wells on Wheels, but she has a back-up organization if that doesn’t work out because of a new law passed in India that could impose taxes on the donations.
Shah tries to limit her commissions to the summer so she can concentrate on school and dance, but occasionally she’ll accept a commission from a friend for a special occasion and do it on a school break.
She is now a company dancer at Vice City Dance Company. She is on the competition team, competing in jazz, contemporary and Hip Hop.
Now she’s working organizing a dance showcase featuring dancers from Jill Mallory, her new Studio and the school dance team, Variations. The showcase would have 15 dances and the proceeds would go to Wells on Wheels. She’s been working on securing a venue.
At Palmetto, she’s vice president of competitions for Mu Alpha Theta, the math honor society. As VP she tutors the competition team.
She’s a member of the National Honor Society, class treasurer for the Class of ‘23 and vice president for Women in Technology, whose members are taught to code at meetings. She books guest speakers for the club.
Shah earned her first-degree black belt in tae-kwon-do her freshman year,
For college, she’s looking at which part of the country she’d like to live in, and she’ll apply to colleges in the areas she’s interested in. Currently her top spots are New York and California.
Her community service includes working the summer dance camps at the studios where she studies dance.
She’s been a member of the Palmetto Bay Youth Council since freshman year. She says the youth council is mellow right now because of COVID restrictions, but they helped Mayor Cunningham when she had to give a speech at Thalatta Estate.
“We set up the place, with little stations around for food,” she says. “We had to make sure if anyone had a question, we could answer the question.”
The council does service projects. The current one involves rehabbing the Chinese bridge.
They are also advocating for a movie night in one of the parks.
Shah hopes to be able to visit India soon. Her family used to visit every two years, but with COVID it’s been four or five years since she’s been there.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
