Lynden High School Alumni of the Year: Tanya Castellon Rojas

At every step of her educational journey, Tanya Castellon Rojas says the hard work of her parents, positive influence of friends and dedicated support of educators kept her on a path toward success. She’s now giving migrant students throughout Western Washington that same opportunity with her work. 

Named the Lynden 2024 Alumni of the Year and honored during Lynden High School’s Homecoming celebrations, Rojas says receiving the award gives her the chance to publicly thank her parents for all they did. 

Born in Guadalajara the second oldest of seven siblings, Rojas saw first-hand her family struggle when they left Mexico for the United States, adapting to a new language and new country. “My story is not just mine,” Rojas says. “My story begins with my family.”

Rojas attended Fisher Elementary, Isom Intermediate, Lynden Middle School and Lynden High School before graduating in 2005. She then attended Santa Clara University on a full-ride Gates Millenium Scholarship as a first-generation college student. 

She’s now married with three children and has served ELL and migrant students ever since her time in college. She first worked in the ELL Program at Lynden Schools, specifically Fisher and Bernice Vossbeck elementaries, and as a family liaison in the Family Engagement Program at Bellingham School District. Since 2017, Rojas has worked as the migrant out-of-school youth and health coordinator at Educational Service District 189, which serves migrant education school districts in Western Washington. She works with community partners to bring nursing and wellness education to the migrant communities and coordinates to ensure migratory students gain access to academic services. 

In 2024 she helped organize the first Migrant Whatcom Wellness Day, a partnership between the Lynden, Nooksack Valley, Mount Baker and Ferndale school districts to bring migrant youth and families together at Lynden Middle School to attend workshops about mental health and wellness. 

Along with her family, she credits surrounding herself with friends during school who had similar goals, friends who “influenced me for the better and without them I would not have gotten to where I am today.” It was her parents, though, that modeled continually dedication. “I never heard them complain, because for them having a better life for their children would make it all worth it,” she says. “This award is a reflection of their sacrifice.” 

Rojas credits the many teachers she had across her education in Lynden Schools, highlighting the work of Bob Carson and Rob Cheeseman, both at the high school.

Carson says that he was teaching a program for advanced learners called RISE when he met Tanya as a freshman. He saw her unique dedication to learning and suggested she join the RISE program. She responded by saying she wasn’t articulate enough to be in RISE. “I told her that any freshman who is using the word articulate is articulate enough to be in RISE,” Carson says. She then joined and thrived, helping earn her a full-ride scholarship to college along the way. 

Rojas also pointed out many other educators who cared for her and her siblings in much the same way. “Terry Mata and Ana Maria Estrada changed the course of our lives by staying on us to finish school,” Rojas says. “It was educators like them that drove me to dedicate myself to work in schools. Today my career takes me to work with the Migrant Education Program, with families who harvest the food we have on our tables.” 

Labeling it an honor to support students of the families who work diligently, Rojas is reminded of her parents when she sees the families that milk cows, pick strawberries and prune raspberry bushes in the cold rain. “It is my turn to give back to the community the good that other people have sown for me and my family,” she says. 

During a speech to the students at Lynden High School, Rojas encouraged the current students to take the time to thank someone who has helped them in their journey. “It could be someone at your school who has advocated for you, one of your friends who has influenced you in positive ways, a loved one who has sacrificed something for you to have opportunities that they didn’t have,” she says. “We are who we are thanks to others.”