Talaya Jones
To many, Talaya Jones was the woman on the catwalk, dancing her heart out and performing in front of crowds.
But to people close to her, Jones was something more. For all her natural dancing ability and hard work, they say her real talent lay elsewhere. They say her real talent was in being a friend.
Jones, 19, drowned July 6 while on a family vacation in Virginia Beach, Va. Her family was at a family reunion in Spotsylvania County, Va., at the time, her cousin Christopher Stokes said.
Born on March 8, 1994, Jones attended the Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, where she was in the dance prime, a program that allowed her to focus on her passion. She graduated from the program in 2012, before moving to College Park for the summer to take part in this university’s Academic Achievement Program.
She began to make an impact on the students around her from her arrival on the campus, quickly befriending her summer roommate, sophomore criminology and criminal justice major Alecia Frye, as well as other members of her AAP family.
Frye stressed this university was Jones’ dream school, her “No. 1 pick,” and that she couldn’t have been happier when she was officially accepted at the end of summer 2012.
And for as much as Jones loved the school, the school loved her in return.
“She touched every person that she came in contact with. Every person was impacted by her,” Frye said. “She just had that type of personality. She was everyone’s best friend.”
While at the university, Jones joined the Echelon Fashion Society, a multifaceted organization focused on helping students break into the fashion industry.
Davian Morgan, a senior criminology and criminal justice and sociology major who first met Jones at her audition for Echelon in September, said the organization was a great fit for her and an opportunity to show off her talent.
“Watching Talaya at practice, I could definitely tell that her passion was dancing,” Morgan said. “It was something that she was amazing at and gave her all to.”
Another Echelon member, senior architecture major Janae Edley, who also attended the Carver Center, said she felt an attachment to Jones, as they were the only two Carver graduates in the Echelon club.
“Whoever’s life she walked into — anyone who met her — felt loved,” Edley said before reminiscing about one practice where the “Carver Kids” — she and Jones — walked down the runway together in their distinctive Carver style.
In her freshman year, Jones was placed in a quad-sized dorm room along with fellow AAP members — a group that bonded throughout the year despite its potentially uncomfortable living quarters.
“People knew us because we were roommates. We would all hang out together all the time,” said Johanna DeGuzman, a communication major and one of Jones’ roommates. “Cambridge 1202 — that was us.”
“This has taught me that you really can never take your roommates for granted. You’ve got to cherish the connection you have, cherish the moments you share,” DeGuzman said — moments like when Jones would take a study break by sprawling in the middle of their floor with her blanket making snow angels, a moment DeGuzman said she will carry with her forever.
This summer, Jones worked as a bagger at a Giant Food, as well as at Loftin Love Christian Daycare in Windsor Mill and as an assistant instructor in an introductory dance class and summer camp at Studio A Modeling, Etiquette and Dance Academy in Randallstown. She planned to train over the summer and reaudition for this university’s dance team this fall, DeGuzman said.
Jones was a business major at the university but was still figuring out her career path and interests, Frye said.
Jones’ survivors include her father, Troy Jones; mother, Wanda Jones; and her older brother, Michael Wedington Sr.
A funeral service for Jones was held July 11 at St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore.
