2025 Volunteer of the Year
Scripps College recognizes and appreciates the importance of the ongoing commitment, dedication, and leadership of its alumnae. The Volunteer of the Year award recognizes an alum for their commitment, dedication, leadership, and exceptional volunteer service on behalf of Scripps College. The award is presented each year during Reunion Weekend. Read about past recipients here.
Juanita Nash-Dahlen graduated from Scripps College in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. Because she had also studied German with enough credits for a double major, she headed to Wuppertal, in what was then West Germany. For ten years, she taught upper school English, Anglo-American history, and Social Studies at the Rudolf Steiner Schule.
At Scripps, Juanita was dorm president and head waitress in Grace Scripps. After returning to the U.S. in 1983, she participated in alum activities in the New York/New Jersey area for many years. In 2005, she attended Camp Scripps for the first time and became hooked. She has attended each Camp since then, serving as a tri-chair twice, leading individual workshops and coordinating others. In 2018, she was selected as President-elect of the Scripps College Alumnae Leadership Council (ALC) and then served as ALC President from 2019 to 2021. This coincided with her service as a member of the Scripps College Board of Trustees. During Covid when all alum events were remote, she worked hard to support online activities that helped foster a sense of connectedness and community among alums and current students alike. After her term as president ended, she became the chair of the ALC’s Leadership Development Committee until 2024.
Juanita continues to volunteer her time and talents to Scripps. For the past six years, she has written welcome letters to incoming first-year and transfer students and congratulatory letters to graduating seniors. In 2022, Juanita led her 50th Reunion committee and happily reconnected with so many of her former classmates. In 2023, she was honored to be a marshal during the inauguration of President Amy Marcus-Newhall.
Juanita retired as a Human Resources director in 2019 after 24 years with Canon. She relocated to Tucson, Arizona in 2020 where she connected with other alums, joined the thriving Scripps book club, and even conducted a pop-up event on soap-making for local Scripps community members.