On October 25, 2024, Tunstall High School held its Senior Night game against Mecklenburg County High School. The Trojans unfortunately faced a loss of 8-51, with Kaden Brower scoring their touchdown. Before kickoff, the Senior Night ceremony was held at 6:30 p.m., featuring thirty-two seniors: fourteen football players along with their manager, ten cheerleaders, and seven members of the marching band. These seniors’ upcoming graduation is causing many mixed emotions among themselves and their peers being left behind.
Football Seniors:
The Senior Night ceremony featured thirteen football players and one, Brandon Tickle, not in attendance: Kaden Brower (captain), Eben Turner (captain), Will Ingram (captain), Micah Rutherford, Nash Glasscock, Bryce Connor, Dustin Gregory, Eli Farmer, Elijah Keatts, Jackson Wiles, Chris Stallard, Tre Davis, and Ryan Stewart. In addition to the players themselves, one of the team’s managers, Halle Cassada, had her senior walk during the ceremony.
As the 2024 football season is ending, the team is full of many different emotions. Captain Kaden Brower, for example, who scored the touchdown at the 10/25 game, says, “I am really going to miss my teammates and coaches because of the bonds we have created.” Currently, he is undecided on where he would like to go to college, but he knows that he wants to pursue a career in physical therapy.
Cheerleader Seniors:
The cheerleaders had ten seniors in the ceremony. Three seniors were captains: Destiny Flores, Rylie Dishman, and MaKayla Holiness. The seven other seniors consisted of Jaden Taylor, Anna Inman, Rebecca Coffey, Kernice Smith, Karina Britten-Vaden, Charlotte Blair, and Natalie Rouse.
“I am going to miss cheering on the sidelines with all of my friends,” Flores said about this being her final season on the football cheer squad. This year was her third year on the varsity cheerleading team. Next year, she plans to attend James Madison University to become a nurse. The 2025-2026 varsity cheerleading team will be primarily new faces due to the amount of members graduating this spring, so next year’s season will surely be full of surprises.
Marching Band Seniors:
There were seven members of the Trojan Vanguard that partook in Senior Night. One of the seniors was Talayah Martin, the drum major. Other senior students were Karmen Guinn, Cooper Foster, Lesly Tovar, Jacob Beck, Cadence Bryant, and Tristan Whitlock.
Drum major Talayah Martin described her feelings about her last year in the marching band by saying, “I’m not going to lie, I’m really going to miss it.” Martin plans to attend Virginia Commonwealth University to pursue a career in nursing and has hopes to continue marching band while in college. Talayah’s outstanding work has helped lead the marching band to many victories during competitions, so next year’s drum major will have very big shoes to fill.
Congratulations to all the Trojans that are graduating in 2025. We can’t wait to see where life takes you all in the years to come!
