Seneca grad is Truman Scholar
Mikayla Tillery, a 2020 Seneca Valley Senior High School graduate, has been named a recipient of the 2024 Truman Scholarship for her commitment to housing and energy justice.
The Harry S. Truman Foundation provides up to $30,000 for recipients to use for graduate school tuition and fees.
Tillery is a junior at Stanford University pursuing a double major in urban studies and African and African American studies.
She was recognized as an Ernest Houston Johnson Scholar, which is a program named for the first Black graduate of Stanford.
Tillery has immersed herself in various service opportunities while a student at Stanford, according to a university news release.
She has fought for housing justice through policy by volunteering with the Palo Alto Renters’ Association, where she created public participation documents with the Just Transitions Policy Lab in the interest of the association’s efforts to fight for tenants’ rights.
Tillery was a Partnerships for Climate Justice in the Bay Area fellow last summer and is one of 15 elected senators to serve on the Associated Students of Stanford University Council. She was appointed the undergraduate representative for the Stanford Board of Trustees Committee on Land, Buildings and Real Estate; founded Students for Black Maternal Health; and continues to support Stanford’s Black community through her work at the Black Community Service Center.
Tillery plans to attend law school after graduating from Stanford to continue her pursuit of fair housing and eviction advocacy, and fighting for those who are disadvantaged by housing discrimination, neighborhood segregation and redlining.
She expressed gratitude at the support she has received at Stanford.
“Winning the Truman Scholarship is a reminder of the obligation we have to leverage our institutional resources and support systems to pour into others, to challenge the systems of oppression that impact our communities,” Tillery said.
