Having a high-school diploma at 17 and still being alive to tell your story in Chicago is rare these days. Then you have Dorothy who gets her Doctoral degree at the age of 17! Which makes her the youngest person to earn a doctorate in behavioral health at Arizona State.
The Chicago teen also known as Dorothy “Jeanius” started her journey at the age of 10 when she took her first college course. Dorothy Jean Tillman II’s participation in Arizona State University’s May 6 commencement was the latest victory that she has overcame.
Here’s a bit of backstory, her mother enrolled her in Lake County ( Northern Illinois) college courses while she was in middle school. She majored in psychology and completed her associate’s degree in 2016, according to her biography.
From there she earned a bachelor’s in humanities from New York’s Excelsior College in 2018. Then just two years later, she earned her master’s of science from Unity College in Maine before being accepted in 2021 into Arizona State’s Behavioral Health Management Program.
She has completed most of her work remotely online but she was able to join Arizona State for her graduation ceremony in person and was allowed to speak to her classmates. Her associate director Leslie Manson told Good Morning America “It’s a wonderful celebration, and we hope … that Dorothy Jean inspires more students,” Manson said. “But this is still something so rare and unique.”
Tillman also is founder and chief executive of the Dorothyjeanius STEAM Leadership Institute. The program includes summer camps designed to help young people in the arts and STEM subjects.
CONGRATULATIONS Dorothy 🎉🍾🎈🎊
