Krystn Charlie reflected for a moment while considering what the late Pat Pitre meant to Hahnville High School.
“She was just everything Tiger Pride is,” said Charlie. “She embodied every bit of it.”
The Pat Pitre Memorial Crawfish Cook-off is set for Sunday at Hahnville High School from 12 to 4 p.m. Fourteen teams are signed up this year for the competition, which will raise money for the Pat Pitre Memorial Scholarship Fund. The fund, established by Pitre’s family, awards scholarships to two graduating seniors each year.
The event was originally set to happen Saturday, but it has been moved to a day later due to weather concerns.
Pitre passed away in August of 2016 after battling breast cancer. She worked at HHS for 15 years as the school’s librarian and was also its media specialist.
Charlie has worked at Hahnville High School for 16 years, alongside Pitre for several of those. She said it’s fitting that the event is about giving back because its namesake absolutely loved doing just that for the students of Hahnville High. Pitre was very popular with her fellow faculty and the students alike.
“The kids at Hahnville now haven’t had that chance to be around her, they don’t know her, but she was such an integral part of our school,” Charlie said. “It’s important for our school and the culture of our school, for everything we stand for, to keep her memory alive.”
Pitre drove from her home in Cut Off to Boutte and back again each day. She was well known for her immense dedication to Hahnville’s students.
She assisted students with their senior projects, setting up panel presentations as well as helping the students with their research in the library and helping them add media to their digital portfolios. She would also help those struggling with deadlines to make sure they didn’t fall behind on their projects.
Pitre was in charge of organizing the school’s graduation ceremony. She checked with each senior for the correct spelling of their name, set up appointments with Jostens for the seniors to order their supplies and organized and conducted the graduation practice.
“When it was time for senior projects, that was a scary thing for students to take on, and she helped them with everything for that,” said Charlie. “Really, any time our kids needed anything, they knew they could go see Ms. Pat and she’d help them without judgement. She loved these kids. We want to give back to her family because she gave so much to us as part of our Tiger family.”
Tickets for the cook-off are $30 for the public, $14 for kids 8 and under, and $15 for Hahnville students with a student ID. The ticket price includes all the crawfish you can eat.
The cook-off is organized by Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, a one-year program for students that focuses on leadership and service.
Charlie is the facilitator of the Leader Academy and said the change in venue this year to Monsanto Park will hopefully lead to an even larger crowd for what’s been a growing event.
“We’re hoping for some heavy traffic … we’re following the Bridge Run, so hopefully we’ll get some hungry people from there,” Charlie said.
There were nearly 200 attendees last year, and as the event has gotten larger, more crawfish has naturally been needed. Chick-fil-A has awarded a grant for the event each year and the $1,000 resulting from that helps purchase crawfish and in keeping costs down for the public.
There will also be a silent auction, a DJ and a face painting area for children.
The Chick-fil-A Leader Academy is a national high school leadership program sponsored by Chick-fil-A Operators, focused on making impact through action. Students attend monthly Leader Labs that highlight inspirational and informational ways to make a difference. This year, the company has designated the Pitre cook-off as its feature Impact Project for 2025 and is sending representatives to interview Hahnville students at the event.
