VIDEO: One High School Student Doesn’t Let The Sound Of Silence Keep Her Quiet

ALICEVILLE, AL. (WCBI) – Teenagers.  Most of them live in their own world. That is especially true for one Aliceville High School student.

Talaija Smith was born deaf in one ear and not long after, lost hearing in the other.

Talaija Smith is just 15 years old, but she is a role model for students and educators in Aliceville, and as you will hear, Talaija has never let the sound of silence keep her quiet.

When Talaija Smith takes the field, you can feel the energy. Her life is a testament to hard work and dedication.

“The biggest thing that she’s been able to do is to show that life is beyond a disability, like working hard, to go above and beyond what people think you should be able to do, and what you’re actually able to do,” says Pickens County Administrator of Special Education, Alesia Williams.

Which is why she steals everyone’s hearts when they meet her. She’s the captain of the majorette squad, plays basketball, and her mom is her number one fan.

“She carries me to choir practice, and takes me to band practice, and she coaches me at band practice,” says student, Talaija Smith.

However, it’s not easy to live in a hearing world, and the technology she needed to hear came with a price tag of more $25 thousand dollars.

“She went a year and a half without hearing anything, but it didn’t hold her back because she stayed in school and grades stayed up because she does total communication, which is sign language, reading lips, vocal, so you know, she still was able to communicate, so once we got a device, it’s just been going forth ever since,” says mother/guardian, Belinda Craig.

Three years ago her teacher, the superintendent, and the school board reached a decision.

“What is the best thing to do for this, and what would we want to do for this child if it was our kid? We got into the weeds pretty quick that she was going to need some help, and we thought this implant could make a difference for her, and for her family, and from all indications it has. It’s been one of the best things we’ve ever done for a student in our system,” says Pickens County Superintendent, Jamie Chapman.

The cochlear implant has done wonders for Smith, just like Smith does for people around her.

“She encourages me, you know it should be the other way around, but she encourages me because she let’s nothing hold her back. She loves school, she loves the band, she loves the basketball team, and she likes to be involved, even at church, she sings in the church choir,” says Craig.

Talaija is in regular freshman classes, but has an assistant with her all day to make sure she’s interpreting everything correctly.