INDIANAPOLIS — The moment that Tamaurion Jones, or TJ, knew that there needed to be a change in his lifestyle was when some of his friends were arrested.
Jones, a 17-year-old student at the Indiana Math and Science Academy, was struggling in school, and was getting suspended. But that day was a wake-up call for Jones.
“I was hanging around a lot of bad people– I wasn’t feeling good hanging around those people. They were doing a lot of bad things,” Jones said. “I decided I didn’t want to be another stereotype, I didn’t want to be another digit in the system…
“It was a day where I seen my friends get arrested and my mom was like, ‘I am happy that’s not you.’ And it would have been me if I chose to go out with them that day.”
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Now, Jones is the captain of his school’s debate team, works full time and has transformed, according to his family and teachers, into someone with a bright and positive future.