Aspen Navarro, left, and Julia Tyndall reunite at Aspen’s graduation from Hays High School on May 31. Tyndall was Aspen’s third-grade teacher at Hemphill Elementary. The two formed a long-term pen pal relationship after Tyndall moved away and Aspen started writing to her. They had not seen each other since Aspen was nine years old. (Photo by Kim Hilsenbeck)
by KIM HILSENBECK
As a first-year teacher at Hemphill Elementary in 2002, Julia Tyndall, then Julia Mejorado, had little idea of what to expect. Hearing that incoming student Aspen Navarro, then eight, was a handful, Tyndall was prepared for anything.
“I was dead set on enforcing discipline and keeping control of the classroom,” Tyndall said. “I was told that Aspen was a bit dramatic, rebellious and tried to control the classroom.”
Aspen, 18, recently recollected her third-grade year.
“That was her [Tyndall’s] first year teaching and boy did I give her a hard time at first,” Aspen said.
That potential clash could have gone in a different direction. But for Tyndall and Aspen, it turned out to be a long-term journey that continues to this day.
In fact, the two maintained a pen pal style friendship starting the summer after Aspen’s third-grade year. Tyndall was leaving Hays CISD to get married and teach elsewhere.
Aspen said Tyndall signed white T-shirts for students at the end of that year; she included her phone number for a few of them saying, ‘keep in touch’— Aspen took her up on the offer.
“I worked up the nerves to give her a call to ask for her address so I could send her letters. I remember I was so nervous but after receiving my first letter from her it was fun being little and having a pen pal.”
Tyndall was surprised to hear from Aspen – and said she was even more surprised when she found out that the little girl liked her as a teacher.
“I was shocked when she wrote how much she liked me and missed me,” Tyndall recalled. “She wrote me a very sweet letter about my job as a teacher and wanting to keep in touch.”
Tyndall said Aspen was the only student from that class that wrote to her.
Aspen said over time, she and Tyndall became friends who kept in touch regularly.
What was it that made Tyndall so special to that impressionable young girl Aspen used to be?
“She never failed to see the good in me and my potential,” said Aspen. “She is one of the few teachers who had the biggest impact on me. She believed in her students so much.”
Seeing her own potential helped Aspen throughout her schooling. She plans to attend Texas State University in the fall and major in marine biology.
Tyndall said the letters from Aspen changed her teaching career.
“It taught me that you never know which child you have impacted. She is a poster child to never give up on a kid and never write a student off ... even the tough kids that you are harsh on could be the one that you impact the most,” Tyndall said.
Aspen didn’t know at the time of that first letter she would retain a connection with Tyndall right up until her graduation from Hays High School on May 31 of this year.
The two women reunited in person that night for the first time since 2003 – which by all accounts made the celebration that much more special for them both.
Tyndall, who now teaches in Mesquite, Texas, and her husband traveled several hours after work to be at the ceremony.
She said the experience of seeing Aspen after all these years was surreal.
“She’s a young woman,” Tyndall said. “But she still looks the same.”
Kym Navarro, Aspen’s mother, said there was a bond between her daughter and Tyndall.
“Aspen was very sad when Ms. Tyndall left Kyle,” said Navarro.
Frank Navarro, Aspen’s father, added that teachers like Tyndall make a difference to students.
“Looking back I have learned so much since then. I knew nothing and was just winging it,” Tyndall said.
