Two Georgetown Law Students Named 2025 Tillman Scholars

Established in memory of Pat Tillman, who left a professional football career to join the Army after the September 11 terrorist attacks and was killed while serving in Afghanistan in 2004, the Pat Tillman Foundation provides academic scholarships and support to student leaders pursuing higher education and working to drive positive change in their communities.

Hernandez and Dixon are the 22nd and 23rd Georgetown University students to be named Tillman Scholars since the program’s founding. They are the second and third Law Center recipients in the last two years, joining 2024 Scholar Karim Ibrahim, L’26.

Both Hernandez and Dixon say they are excited — and grateful — to embark on their law school journeys as Tillman Scholars. “I don’t even know how to describe it,” Hernandez says. “It feels almost like it was meant to be, because I’ve wanted to go to Georgetown for so many years.”

“Georgetown is dedicated to creating students who give back to the community,” Dixon says. “I’m excited to dive in and be surrounded by other people who are interested in the law.”

Simon Hernandez, L’28

After graduating from high school, Simon Hernandez enlisted in the National Guard in 2012 and served as a combat engineer in Washington state, honing his leadership skills and volunteering as a wildland firefighter responding to some of the largest fires in state history.

In 2017, he moved into intelligence work, learning Russian at the Defense Language Institute and relocating to Northern Virginia, where he served as a researcher and social media operations officer focused on Russia and Eastern Europe for the Department of Defense.

It was during his intelligence training that Hernandez first learned about Georgetown from a classmate — and felt drawn to one day becoming a Hoya.

“It planted a seed that this school called Georgetown existed,” says Hernandez, who went on to complete an undergraduate degree in legal studies and who credits personal experience with fostering an interest in the law — and housing equity in particular.

“[Receiving housing assistance] changed my family’s life for the better,” he recalls of his upbringing. “It enabled us to have a permanent home, which set us up for success in the future.”

As he prepares for his 1L year, Hernandez is eager to take advantage of Georgetown’s tax law offerings, with the goal of one day working to expand access to affordable housing and shape inclusive housing policy nationwide.

For now, he is looking forward to settling in Alexandria, Va. with his wife, 3-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son.

“My family is my main motivation for everything I do,” he says. “I want my kids and my wife to have a good future and hopefully inspire them and set an example.”

Cornelia Dixon, L’28

As an undergraduate student at Duke University, Cornelia Dixon persuaded her friends to spend their spring breaks in Washington, D.C., where she was drawn to the city’s institutions and history.

“Seeing the White House, seeing the Capitol building [and] all these historic places that are key to how the country operates always blew my mind,” she says.

A high school speech and debate champion who completed her undergraduate thesis about the treatment of women within South Africa’s legal system, Dixon says she has long appreciated the power of legal advocacy. The value of education and public service, she says, were also central to her experiences growing up as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants in south Florida.

After graduating from Duke in 2021 with degrees in public policy and African and African American studies and a minor in education, Dixon joined the Teach For America program and served for three years as a high school English teacher in Hawaii.

It was there she met her husband, a U.S. Army officer. “The day that we met, he knew about my law school aspirations,” she says. Today, the couple live in Germantown, Md. with their 1-and-a-half year old daughter — a location they chose so that Dixon’s husband can drive to his station in Harrisburg, Pa. while she commutes to campus.

Dixon says that being named a Tillman Scholar is a sign that the challenges she and her family have faced in her journey to Georgetown — such as applying to law school while caring for a newborn — have been worthwhile.

“I get to go to this school that I’ve always dreamed of,” she says, noting that she is particularly excited to be close to real-world policymaking in D.C. and learn from faculty who are also experienced legal practitioners. “It really affirms all the sacrifices that we’ve made.”