The Celeste Kriedemann Scholarship was created in 2015 by Michael Steel and Dorothea Schmeissner in honor of Council of International Programs alumna, Celeste Kriedemann. This scholarship will be awarded annually to a CIPUSA applicant to use towards living expenses while on a CIPUSA program. The scholarship is open to any resident of South Africa who is interested in an experience in the U.S. in the field of social work.

Scholarship Amount: 

$1,000.00 USD and Waiver of Program Fee

Program Length: 

1 to 2 months

Eligibility Requirements:

• Recipient must be from South Africa

• Recipient must be in the field of social work

• Recipient must have university degree AND at least one year of experience in the field of social work OR five years of social work experience

To view scholarship criteria and application requirements, please click here to download this document.

History of the Scholarship:

In 1971 Celeste Kriedemann, at the age of 25, was chosen to represent South Africa in that year's CIP program. She had never been out of her home country before and the experience for her was life defining. Along with that year's German CIP participant, Dorothea Schmeissner, she worked for nearly a year as a social worker, first in Cleveland, Ohio and then in a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

After her return to South Africa she taught psychiatric social work students at the University of Cape Town. She also met and married an Englishman, Mike Steel. He didn't want to stay in South Africa so in 1977 they moved to Australia. Celeste never lost her love for her home country of South Africa, though, and hoped, one day, to help other South African social workers benefit from CIP the way she had. She also hoped, from far away, that political change in South Africa would one day remove discrimination and inequality.

Sadly, Celeste passed away from cancer in 1995 at the age of 49, but only after learning that political change had, in fact, occurred in South Africa.

As part of remembering Celeste and her wish to help South Africa, Mike and Dorothea have established this scholarship to assist young South African social workers to benefit the way Celeste did from the CIP program.