Dorothy Jean Tillman II is nothing short of a prodigy. She was 10 years old when she was accepted into New York’s Excelsior College, where she pursued a bachelor’s in humanities. By the age of 14, she received her associate's and master's degrees, and now, aged 17, she made history as the youngest scholar to earn a doctorate from Arizona State University. Known as 'Jeanius' by her peers, she defended her dissertation on integrated behavioural health, an associate professor at the University told the media. Interestingly, the teenager is named after her grandmother, renowned American civil rights activist and politician Dorothy Jean Tillman I.
How She Did It
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dorothy Jean Tillman II felt the urge to continue her education even though she already had a master's degree. The teenager, who was working on her science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics startup, Dorothyjeanius STEAM Leadership Institute, expressed that wanted to pursue a doctorate in the field of mental health.
When she started her course in integrated behavioural health at the Arizona State University of Health Sciences, she was the youngest in her batch. Tillman told The Associated Press, "Everything that we were doing didn’t seem abnormal to me or out of the ordinary until it started getting all of the attention." Tillman also made many sacrifices to get where she is now.
While she has no regrets, Tillman told AP that she had a very different educational experience compared to most of her peers. “I didn’t have the everyday school things like homecoming dances or spirit weeks or just school pictures and things like that ... that kind of create unity with my peers,” she said. However, her mother's support and grandmother's blessings helped.
Her mother, Jimalita Tillman told CNN, "I knew what it took for her to go through that. She had to sacrifice a lot. A lot of her fears and going through different things during the pandemic. She emerged as a leader without fear, showing them how to navigate online schooling.” Dorothy also made time for her passion for dance to keep her mind rejuvenated.
The teenager expressed, “It was always a very hard thing to kind of stomach mentally being so young. When you get out of college, you’re thinking, ‘What do I do next?’ Now I am able to sit in the comfortability of being a teenager and being OK with the fact that I don’t have to figure out what comes next." Dorothy expressed that she plans on public speaking engagements and fundraising for her startup.
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