PRINCESS ANNE, MD - Two University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) students, Eric Staley, 22, and Makayla Belton, 18, were killed in a head-on collision on Route 13 near Cannon Road early yesterday morning. Delaware State Police reported that two other students were critically injured and taken to the hospital. Investigators believe the wrong-way driver who caused the crash may have been impaired. The investigation is ongoing.
At the UMES campus in Princess Anne, the atmosphere is heavy as students and faculty mourn the loss of two young lives.
“She just got here, she just got the feeling of being in college and all that stuff. It’s just tragic what happened,” said student Carter Herbert.
Staley was from North Carolina, and Belton was from Pennsylvania, but the pain of their families is being thought of miles away at campus,
“For me, personally, I’m about 3 or 4 hours away from home, my family worries every day—they worry about me and they don’t have a reason to. Then you have people who do have a reason to, something like this happens, people are in the hospital— and they’re too far away. It’s hard to deal with that,” said Herbert.
UMES is providing grief counseling and support groups to help the campus community through this difficult time. Latoya Jenkins, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Experience, says the school community is united in prayer for the families, and working to get through the grief,
“The mood is somber today—but we feel supported and we know that Hawks soar. Even in moments like this, we have a great campus community who supports our students, and we will again soar,” Jenkins said.
In addition to counseling, UMES is working to ensure continued communication, and that students have opportunities to come together and process the loss through social engagement,
“We stand here today planning, to ensure that we continue to support our campus community at a higher level—not only will we have counseling and support groups —but we'll also have things for social engagement so students can interact with each other and have a good sense of belonging. Discussions, movie nights, etc.,” Jenkins added.
A moment of silence will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Student Service Center Courtyard in Princess Anne to honor Staley and Belton, and pray for the two other victims that remain in critical condition.
