College was always in the cards for Deanna Vigil.

Paying for it, however, was a different matter.

"I realized my senior year I was going to need to really hustle, so I applied for pretty much all the local scholarships I could, even a few national ones," she said.

The scholarships she earned, plus working as a resident adviser in the dorms at the University of New Mexico, paved the way to a biology degree — and a job at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Now 33, Vigil is using her firsthand experience navigating the financial challenges of a postsecondary education to help other Northern New Mexico students reach their college potential, earning her a spot as one of The New Mexican ’s 10 Who Made a Difference for 2025.

"Between the help of scholarships and being a resident adviser [at

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