Jahlil Kumar Wins Lyrico Steede Award In UK
A teenager living in Nottingham, England, has been recognised with an award for turning his life around after realising he could end up in prison.
Jahlil Kumar, 15, has been awarded the Lyrico Steede Award – named after the Bermudian teenager murdered in Bulwell, Nottingham, in 2018.
A report on the Nottinghamshire Police website said Jahlil, who had got in the wrong crowd, overhauled his life after a knock on his front door by its criminal investigation department made him re-evaluate his behaviour.
Jahlil, nominated for the award by his child youth support worker, was chosen as the winner by Lyrico’s mother, Keishaye Steede. He will receive the award at a ceremony later this month.
The article read: “The [Lyrico Steede] award was created as part of the force’s Live Our Best Life Awards and aimed at recognising a young person who may have been involved in gangs, knife crime, or any other form of criminality but has turned their life around, made significant progress and is now an inspiration to others.”
Jahlil said in the article: “It was the turning point when I got arrested in school. I was 13 years old and in Year 9, and CID came and picked me up from school.
“It made me realise the allegations they were accusing me of were quite serious, and I didn’t want to be sitting in jail at a young age and wasting my life. I wanted to do better and make money in the right way and survive.
“Things started to change when I met my support worker Stephen last year as I had a referral after I got stopped in a car with a friend. Nothing crazy happened, but Stephen helped me open up my eyes to a lot more that goes on in the world as the way I was going wasn’t going to do me any good.
“Since February 2022, we’ve been working on a lot of things, anger issues, communication, being more confident in communicating and building on basic skills.
“But I now want to go into electrical installation, get my degree in that and then go into property development and get myself on the property ladder, all while maintaining a reselling business as well.”
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