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 UNM], I was able to put myself through college, so I just try to help other students do that, too, because college is pricey, unfortunately — very pricey,” she said.

Vigil, who grew up in El Rancho in the Pojoaque Valley, dedicates her free time to ensure other students have the same opportunities to go to college.

She serves on the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund Advisory Committee, where she is known for her student outreach, as well as the board of the Pojoaque Valley School District Educational Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the district.

Vigil, who works in the chemistry division at LANL, also established a scholarship through the Pojoaque Valley Catholic Daughters, using her experience on the advisory committee to create a new scholarship. The award has grown from a $500 scholarship in 2023 to two scholarships totaling $1,500 in 2025.

“We just gave out our third year of scholarships this year,” she said.

She also founded the Pojoaque Valley Alumni Facebook page and coordinates annual career days and alumni events. Vigil’s efforts aim to inspire and support local students, providing them with opportunities and resources.

Vigil, who graduated high school in 2011, said she took a lesson from a former high school counselor, Josie Velasquez.

“Her role was to help students get and apply for scholarships,” she said, noting such roles are hard to come by these days.

“I feel like I’m just trying to give students nowadays the Josie that I had in high school and just trying to help students, encourage them to apply and let them know about all the local scholarships that are around,” she said.

Vigil said her volunteerism started in high school.

“When you’re part of clubs … you have to do so many hours of service a year, and [through] confirmation classes, you also had to do like 10 or 20 hours a year, so I think I just got use to doing stuff like that in high school,” she said, adding she “kind of kept up with it in college” but has been able to devote more time to volunteering now that she works at LANL.

Vigil said she hopes her award shines a positive light on Pojoaque and inspires other to get involved in their community.

Vigil’s husband, Gabriel, who nominated his wife for the award, said she epitomizes the saying “paying it forward.”

“I think probably what it is is that she’s been blessed [with different opportunities] in her life, so she wants to give back to her community and give others a chance,” he said. “She’s trying to give the next person in line a chance.”

Mike Ammerman, scholarship program director for the LANL Foundation, hailed Vigil’s contributions to the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund Advisory Committee. He noted Vigil is a past recipient who is now a very active member of the committee, where she is serving her second and final three-year term.

“She’s mentored new members who’ve come on board and trained them in how to do the work of the committee,” he said. “She’s been very active in our fundraising initiatives, which involves going out to other LANL employees and being an ambassador of the program.”

While the credit is shared by committee members, Ammerman said the program has grown exponentially over the past six years Vigil has served.

“We give out over a million dollars a year in scholarships to students from Northern New Mexico,” he said.

Ammerman described Vigil as an ambassador of the program.

“The role of the committee is largely to go out in the community to talk to students and encourage them to apply, and she’s definitely been a leader in that,” he said. “She goes out and tells her story and encourages students from all over Northern New Mexico who are thinking about college or career training to apply for our scholarship.”

Vigil’s personal story resonates with students, Ammerman added.

“When students hear from somebody who comes from the same community that they came from … and then finds a really amazing career where they get to stay in New Mexico … it makes a difference,” he said. “It’s not somebody that’s unrelatable in any way. I mean, she’s from Pojoaque. She’s passionate about Northern New Mexico, and I think students really see themselves in her and having a successful career close to home.”