Tallahassee students awarded scholarships to honor legacy of police shooting victim Corey L. Jones
Jermaine Edwards 
Josef Marlow
Special to the Outlook
Two Tallahassee students were each recipients of $500 scholarships from the Corey Lamar Jones Foundation’s Scholarship Fund.
The scholarship is named for Jones, who was shot by a plain-clothes officer in 2015.
Jones was on his way home from performing with his band in 2015, when he broke down on the side of the interstate in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., He thought help had arrived when Officer Nouman Raja pulled over. Instead of getting help, Jones was fatally shot three times by the plain-clothes officer. He was 31 years old.
With this fund, Jones’ family hopes to continue the legacy of their son in the lives of others, both through his passions and giving young students the opportunity to reform the system that took his life.
The scholarship recipients are two Tallahassee students — Jermaine Edwards and Josef Marlow. Edwards plans to further his studies at Southeastern University and Marlow at the University of Central Florida.
“We commend the Jones family on their generosity and selflessness amid a time of sorrow and suffering,” said attorneys Daryl Parks and Benjamin Crump, who represented the Jones family along with attorneys Kweku Darfoor and Skinner Louis. “Their investment in our children with this scholarship fund is beautiful, keeping Corey’s legacy alive and thriving and giving others promise for tomorrow.”
The fund exists as an annual initiative of the Corey Lamar Jones Foundation, Inc. The board of directors for the committee is headed by Nancy Knaup. The committee is made up of many who were close to Jones, including his band mate Boris Simeonov.
“Though we miss our son every day, this scholarship is exactly what Corey would have wanted,” the Jones family said. “To know that there are students able to pursue their passions because of him is just everything to us.”
Each year the scholarship is awarded to two individuals.
One scholarship is allocated to a student pursuing music or fine arts to honor Jones’ passion for music. Jones, who was an avid drummer, was part of his church worship group as well as the drummer for his own band, Future Prezidents.
The second scholarship is awarded to a student who plans to study criminology, as the family hopes to shed light on the need for more positive role models in the criminal justice community. Criteria for the scholarship require a minimum 2.0 GPA, as well as being an active participant in the school and community. Applicants are also required to submit a letter of recommendation, along with the essay detailing their use for the scholarship and their educational/career goals.
