Student "lifted up" at Ellender homecoming

3 for the boys; 3 for the girls
October 19, 2017
Lafourche booking log – Oct. 23
October 24, 2017
3 for the boys; 3 for the girls
October 19, 2017
Lafourche booking log – Oct. 23
October 24, 2017

Tate Billiot was having a great time at Ellender Memorial High’s homecoming good a time as anyone during Ellender Memorial High’s homecoming dance last week.

Then a great time turned into a dream the sophomore never dared to have, coming true.

Newly crowned Homecoming King Terrence Gray gestured for Tate, whose cerebral palsy requires a wheelchair for mobility, to be picked up and carried onto the stage. The king then placed the crown on Tate’s head.

“My heart just told me to change my mind and give it to him as a blessing, to let him be a part of all of it,” said Terrence, who will be heading to Southern University to study electrical engineering after graduation. “He’s king now, I let it be him, all of it.”


Officially, the two will both be listed as kings.

“Tate doesn’t talk too much, but we could tell he was really happy about it,” said the sophomore’s mother, Nancy Foret. “I am totally amazed about it, what Terrence did was so heartfelt, giving his crown to Tate.”

Ellender’s principal, Blaise Pellegrin, said he had no idea the switch was to be.

“I was going to crown Terrence, and I was reaching up because he is way taller than me, and he said ‘I have to do something,’” the principal recalled. “And then he called on Tate and his mom to come to the stage, and the football players lifted him up in his wheelchair.’”

And the rest is now Ellender Memorial High history. Literally.

“It truly shows how diverse and accepting our school community is,” Pellegrin said. “This is a school where everybody respects each other and sees each others’ value, and they lift each other up.”


Ellender