NBC

Inspiring Grand Prairie Homecoming Students Appear on “Ellen”

Lillian Skinner, Anahi Alvarez and Naomi Martinez were in Los Angeles on Thursday to tape a segment with Ellen about their anti-bullying message.

The inspiring story of the homecoming queen in Grand Prairie, Texas, sharing her crown gets a new audience Friday on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

Lillian Skinner, Anahi Alvarez and Naomi Martinez, all seniors at Grand Prairie High School, were in Los Angeles on Thursday to tape a segment with Ellen about their anti-bullying message.

During the segment, Ellen surprised the girls each with a $10,000 scholarship for college funded by Shutterfly.  

Ellen also declared it her very first "Ellen Homecoming" on the show and made all three of the girls homecoming queens and gave them each a crown.

Then, she told the girls their photo would be hung next to the show's favorite celebrity guests in a backstage hallway.

After the show, the three girls spent a few minutes with a show staffer talking about their experience.

Lillian Skinner, Anahi Alvarez and Naomi Martinez, all seniors at Grand Prairie High School, were in Los Angeles on Thursday to tape a segment with Ellen about their anti-bullying message. They talk about their experience taping the show here.

When some classmates pulled a prank on Skinner, 17, and told her she had been nominated for this year's homecoming court, Skinner's friends who had been nominated, Alvarez and Martinez, vowed to make things right.

"We promised each other and we were like, 'No matter what, no backing down. If one of us wins, we're giving Lillian the crown,'" Martinez said.

The inspiring story of the Grand Prairie homecoming queen sharing her crown gets a new audience Friday on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’

So, during halftime at the homecoming game earlier this month when the stadium announcer revealed Alvarez was the winner, the girls made good on their promise.

"And seeing the look on her face and the way she reacted towards it, it was priceless. And I knew it was the right decision," Martinez said.

Since the story first aired, it has been shared millions of times on social media, has appeared on "NBC Nightly News," the "Today Show" and has been picked up by the likes of People magazine and other news organizations around the world.

"It's really great and wonderful," Skinner said Thursday, immediately after taping the "Ellen" episode. "And it really surprised us to talk to her and hug her."

NBC 5's Christine Lee, Frank Heinz and Holley Ford contributed to this story.

Contact Us