Carrollette’s captain, Talayisha Amourr, explains student unrest at Carroll High School

The following was posted to social media by Talayisha Amourr, a 4.0 senior at Carroll High School in response to the student unrest at Carroll High School. She is the present captain of the Carrollettes. It is the full text of her comments, unedited and unabridged.

My name is Talayisha Thornton, and I’m a senior at Carroll High School. I also serve as the 2025-2026 Carroll High School captain; I have also been on the team for all four years of high school as well. I am writing to respectfully share my opinion as a student and to encourage the board to listen to the voices of children when it comes to making decisions that affect our schools and the future.

I am writing this because of the recent decisions involving my coach and the wellbeing of our team. Coach Jessica Wade, who has been coaching the Carrollettes since 2017, recently has been forced to leave her position, as well as other important and influential staff at our school. And at the same time, the name of our organization was changed to “Million Dollar Girls”. For many of us currently, these change has been very difficult to accept.

For years, the name Carrollettes has represented hard work, pride, and dedication. It is something that generations of young women before us helped build. We have worked incredibly hard to earn respect for our team and to represent Carroll High School in a positive way. Unfortunately, the term “Million Dollar Girls” has been used in a derogatory and disrespectful way towards members of our team in the past, and many girls do not feel comfortable being called that. We are proud and worked to be CARROLLETTES, so we would like to keep the name and legacy that we have fought and worked hard to uphold.

Coach Jessica Wade has helped the Carrollettes tremendously over the years. She has not only helped transform the Carrollettes as dancers, but as young women.

She has taught us confidence, discipline, leadership, and respect. She takes the time to build relationships with each of us individually and has created a true sense of sisterhood and family within our team. This program has been a safe space for students and has provided door-opening and life-changing opportunities for years. And for that to be taken away and to remove the dancers from the band for no reason, it is vile and unfair to everyone involved.

The coaches have invested years and time away from things that are important to them to give back to us children because they see we need them just as much as we want them to be here. Compared to someone who got here months ago who doesn’t care about the well-being of the student body and it’s very clear with the many decisions that are being made around the school.

Although I am graduating in less than a month, I feel a responsibility to speak up for the girls who will still be here after I leave. The freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and upcoming seniors in this program have worked extremely hard and have invested so much time and money to earn what they have today. It is discouraging for them to feel like all their hard work can be taken away and replaced with something new that they did not ask for, nor were they even considered in the decision that was made.

There are also younger girls in our community who have looked up to the Carrollettes for years. Coming to the football games, seeing us on social media, seeing us in parades and even coming to our kiddie instructional camps. They have been dreaming about the day they could join this organization. But when traditions are suddenly changed, it affects their excitement and pride about being in this program.

We simply want our voices to be heard. Students are the ones directly affected by these decisions, and we hope things will be changed, and perspectives will be considered moving forward. And that starts with us being considered in the decisions made at Carroll High School.

I love and will forever be thankful for the life lessons, and self-discipline Carroll High School Band and Carrollettes have given me these past four years. They have shaped me into the person that I am today. I want the girls who come into this organization after me to have the same sense of pride, love, support and sisterhood that I experienced as a Carroll High School Carrollette.