Rescue & Rewards Student Volunteer Earns More Than $1 Million in College Scholarships

Alocal student’s heart of gold and academic acumen have earned $1 million in college scholarships -- and then some. Mia Badillo is a 17-year old student who has attended the Loretto Academy for 13 years and is a volunteer at the Animal Rescue League. Badillo first became involved with animal rescuing after her family rescued their first dog.

| By: ERIN COULEHAN

courtesy of: MIA BADILLO |

Badillo says prior to that adoption, she was afraid of dogs after a harrowing experience.

“I had actually grown up terrified of dogs. I had an incident where a dog chased me at a park. So growing up, I was terrified of dogs. I got my first dog when I was in fourth grade and I adopted her from Animal Rescue when she was 10 weeks old,” she says. “That’s when I really started to get into volunteering with animals and I got over my fear.”

Badillo started an animal rescue club at school in seventh grade, recruiting one of her teachers to sponsor the club and help students fundraise for local animal rescues.

“My friends and I would get together to make different arts and crafts, then sell them to our peers,” says Badillo. “We would accept money and then donate all of it to the Animal Rescue League.”

The City Magazine sat down with Badillo to talk about animal rescue and the rewards that come from diligence.

The City Magazine

How did you become involved with the Animal Rescue League?

Mia Badillo

I started volunteering with the Animal Rescue League in 2019, and started doing Rescue Runners, which is where you take some shelter dogs out and you run them or walk them on a trail near the shelter. I started doing that with my mom a little while before COVID started. But after that, we became what the Animal Rescue League calls adoption counselors -- it’s really cool.

We go to the Animal Rescue League, then we take a van with all the crates inside, and transport usually five to six dogs from the shelter to PetSmart near Sunland Park Mall. We stay there from 11am to 2pm.

We try to get those dogs adopted and we give people more information. If they don’t like the dogs that we take to PetSmart, we direct them back to the shelter. We’re there to give advice and raise awareness for shelter animals.

I love that’s what we do now.

TCM

How many dogs do you think you’ve helped get adopted?

MB

My mom has actually been keeping track for the past couple of years and I think we’re at about 70 dogs.

TCM

Ttell me about college and all this scholarship money you’ve earned.

MB

I’m a senior, and there’s a lot of things to be done for college. At the beginning of the school year is when college applications started opening. I applied to any college that I could. I was getting emails about certain fee waivers. So, I was just applying: I had my essays done, recommendation letters done, all of that kind of stuff.

I would say in January is when I really started to get responses; I started to get letters back saying that I have been accepted. I started to get more scholarships, and all that kind of stuff. But there are a few more colleges that I have applied to.

It’s been kind of surreal. Life’s moving quickly, but I’m excited for what the future holds.

TCM

What’s your dream school? Do you have one?

MB

I don’t have a dream school. I talk to my friends about this all the time. I think growing up, a lot of my friends did have dream schools and they always knew kind of where they wanted to go. And that’s never been me.

I’m looking at all of my options, and seeing what’s going to work out best for me.

I know that I do want to stay close to home, wherever I go. I like the Southwest, especially because wherever I go after I graduate I always want to end up back in El Paso because I’m from El Paso born and raised in El Paso. So are my parents.

The community has done a lot for me and I would love to give back with my knowledge and the degree that I choose to follow.

I want to become a registered dietician. I really see that need here in El Paso, especially living on the border. I see how many underprivileged communities there are, especially with the recent migrant crisis, there has been a lot of issues that have come to light.

I would just love to help people who don’t have the resources, different health resources, or access to health care. I think that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to succeed in life.

I think that that success also includes leading a healthy life. So, I would really like to come back here and work here.

What was it like as you started getting the scholarship letters back and adding up the award amounts?

MB

They actually kind of came all at once. I started to get a bunch of emails in January. At first, I thought I would receive a few scholarships but nothing near as much money as I did receive.

I thought, maybe a few thousand dollars. But I’ve been getting full rides to a few schools, which I think is absolutely amazing.

I’m very grateful and I’m proud of myself, as well. I know that I put in the hard work so it’s nice to finally see it pay off. After all of these years, you kind of lose sight of the goal. And it’s easy to say, “Why am I doing all this work?” Once you actually get that recognition, then you see what it’s all for. That’s been really special.

TCM

I want you to brag a little bit. What do you think it is about you that earned you these amazing awards?

MB need to have people telling me what to do. I know what I need to do, and I’m going to get it done. I think that being so organized has definitely helped me a lot: being on top of things, staying structured, following a routine has always done wonders for me.

Probably my determination. I never strive to be perfect because I don’t think that’s realistic.

I strive every day to do better than I did the day before. Whether it’s something having to do with school, my personal life, friendships, relationships, anything like that, I know that every day provides me with another opportunity to do better. I think about that every day, and I use it to my advantage.

TCM

Where do you think your determination comes from?

Mb

I owe a lot to my parents. I’m an only child, so I’ve kind of always been around them my whole life. I think of them more as my best friends, they’re such inspirations to me. I see how hard they work every single day and how much they’ve provided for me, and I’m extremely fortunate and grateful for that.

All I want to do in life is to reach that kind of success that they’ve reached, and I know that they’ll help me do that. They’ve always been extremely supportive, no matter what

I’m doing, and they’re always there for me. So they’re definitely my biggest inspirations and they’ve always kept me on the right path.

Tcm

What have you learned about people from working with animals?

Mb

I think by volunteering at the Animal Rescue League, and meeting people. Whether it’s at the shelter or at PetSmart when we’re doing adoptions, you really see a different side of people. It’s so eye-opening to see how much animals truly mean in someone’s life.

We’ve had certain times where people have adopted dogs from PetSmart, and they’re just in tears once they adopt their dogs. They’re so happy, and a lot of the time it has to do with the fact that maybe they recently lost a dog or something like that, so they’re still in that recovering phase. Once they actually get to adopt the new dog, it gets really emotional for them.

Something that really hits me is when people who are adopting new dogs come up to my parents and me to thank us for volunteering. They’ll say things like, “Oh, you’re such great people” or “It’s great that you’re doing this, we need more people like you.” For me, it’s never been about getting recognition or anything, but when people say that I’m kind of a thing, I’m caught off guard.

I’m like, “Why are you thanking me?” So it’s really cool to see our work appreciated, but at the same time that’s not the goal.

When we’re volunteering with other people, and we’re meeting new people, it’s really cool to see how animals kind of bring everyone together. I don’t know many people who don’t like dogs or who don’t like cats.

I feel like everyone can share the understanding that animals make life better.