As soon as he transferred to Washington State University, Kevin Schilling knew he wanted to get involved with public service.
He ran for and won a senate seat representing the College of Arts and Sciences in Associated Students of WSU for 2016–2017. He was also a 2017 Top Ten Senior, earning the prestigious recognition for community service, including his ASWSU role.
“In the office, we challenge each other to think deeper and harder, constantly pushing one another toward greater accomplishments,” he said back then.
After nine years, a couple of graduate degrees, and two terms on the Burien City Council—including a stint as mayor and another as deputy mayor—Schilling (’17 History), a self-described “feather-ruffler,” says the sentiment still holds true.
“I’m one who constantly pushes people to go beyond ideological considerations,” he says. “I’ve always been skeptical of extremes. I favor common sense and reasonable approaches to determining what’s best for the city.”
Incorporated in 1993, Burien—population just over 50,000 people—sits southwest of Seattle on Puget Sound. Schilling grew up in this suburban King County enclave, attending church and school at St. Francis of Assisi.
“I had a pretty run-of-the-mill, working-class, old-school Catholic upbringing,” he says. “We went to Mass every Sunday and soccer games on Saturday.”
After graduating from Raisbeck Aviation High School in nearby Tukwila, he took a gap year, backpacking in India and teaching English in western Nepal, before enrolling in community college and transferring to WSU with the goal of teaching history and getting involved.
He interned at the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service at WSU, tutored Cougar football players, volunteered with Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse, served on the advisory board of Grassroots Education Nepal, and hosted a show on KZUU student radio. One of his proudest moments was collaborating with fellow ASWSU senator Josue Zuniga (’18 Poli. Sci.) on a resolution calling for the student body and administration to protect undocumented students on campus. “That day,” he wrote in 2017, “we made a difference.”
Professors who made a difference to him include Jennifer Thigpen, in the history department, and Michael Delahoyde, in English. Schilling credits Thigpen with teaching him how to write “clearly and logically, and weave narrative into history.” He credits Delahoyde with showing him “how to get different perspectives in your writing and always question motives.” Similarly, Cornell Clayton and Richard Elgar, director and assistant director of the Foley Institute, respectively, “showed me real-world situations and real-world implications in the realm of political science.”
But, Schilling says, “I never thought I would go into elected office.”
After WSU, Schilling went straight to graduate school, completing two master’s degrees in international history, one at Columbia University and another at the London School of Economics. When he returned home in 2019, he ran for city council, taking office in early 2020.
“I pretty much haven’t taken a break since,” says Schilling, who was 25 at the time he added his name to the ballot. “I wasn’t seeing a lot of young people getting involved. And I wanted to see if I could put what I had learned into practice.”
One of his biggest challenges—and accomplishments—was handling “a serious political issue around homelessness that was not of our own making but that we needed to respond to.” In early 2024, the city passed a law banning camping and storing property in public spaces. The ordinance, which Schilling supported, requires people to accept services or relocate. The King County Sheriff’s Office, which polices Burien, initially refused to enforce the ban, suing the city over the law. The case was dismissed in federal court.
“Every day is a new challenge. Every week is a new problem,” says Schilling, who came out as a member of the LGBTQ community halfway through his first term, in late 2021.
(Courtesy electkevinschilling/Facebook)
In his second term, which runs through 2027, he’s focusing on economic development, housing, regional partnerships with the Port of Seattle, access and accountability for mental health and addiction services, and services for unhoused people.
Schilling ran for state representative in 2025 and intends to continue in Washington state politics. Long term, he wants to effect change in Washington, D.C.
He encourages others to get involved, too.
“A lot of people are scared to just try. Am I scared to run for office? Totally,” Schilling says. “It’s hard to put yourself out there and get criticized by everybody. But you can never get anything done if you don’t ever try to do anything.”