Mentor Suzella Palmer and Sean Ardarkwa: ‘youngsters in trouble get the message that nobody believes in them and education is not a possibility’ |
NEWSPAPER stories of London's youth violence have a particular resonance for Sean Ardarkwa. Like the other young black men in his neighbourhood, he was surrounded by what he describes as "gang culture" throughout his teenage years in south London, part of a crowd that got into drugs and carrying weapons, and had little time for school.
Now 26, and in the final year of his degree at the University of Bedfordshire, Sean is all too aware of the closeness of his escape from the path he was on. Studying Criminology, he hopes to use his first-hand experience of hanging out with gangs to research why some young black men can break away and others get sucked into a world where prison is often an inevitability.
In Sean's own case, family problems led him to lose interest in school in his early teens, finding solace in a new group of friends, many of whom were experimenting in drugs and carrying weapons. For a brief period he too carried weapons and by the age of 16 had been arrested for carrying a baseball bat and a broken bottle.
He failed his GCSEs, but frustrated by his failure and knowing that he had ability, he applied to college where he retook and passed his exams, before progressing to take A-levels in Law and History. |
