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An endowed Drama Therapy scholarship honors a life of creativity, compassion, and service
Caroline Meister was preparing to begin a new chapter at CIIS when her life was cut short in March 2024. She had been accepted into the Drama Therapy program, where she hoped to deepen a lifelong calling: to listen, to create, and to accompany others as they discovered fuller ways of being alive.
Those who knew Caroline describe a person of rare sincerity, creativity, and presence. Her path moved through theater, social justice, peer counseling, contemplative practice, and the arts. At Oberlin, she studied Politics and Environmental Studies and became involved in nonviolent communication, interfaith dialogue, and Theater of the Oppressed. After graduation, she continued this work with young people, facilitating spaces where adolescent girls could share their stories, process difficult experiences, and be met with compassion and dignity.
In the years that followed, Caroline became a beloved member of the San Francisco Zen Center community, practicing at Green Gulch Farm, City Center, and Tassajara. Her Dharma name, Soshi Gokon — Ancestral Kindness, Diamond Root — reflected something many people experienced in her presence: a grounded tenderness and a willingness to meet life with honesty and care. She expressed herself through dance, theater, painting, sculpture, embroidery, poetry, and writing. Her creativity was part of her spiritual life. It was one of the ways she made meaning, built community, and offered beauty to others.
In her final months, Caroline was looking toward the future. She saw the Drama Therapy program as a continuation of everything she had already been practicing: presence, creativity, compassion, and service. In her own words, she hoped to “share what I learn in the fullest way I can so that it may be of benefit to others.”
Following Caroline’s passing, her parents, John and Jean Meister, established the Caroline Meister Endowed Scholarship Fund at CIIS. The scholarship supports second-year Drama Therapy students beginning practicum, with preference given to those who demonstrate financial need and whose field placements serve marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities.
The response has been extraordinary. Family, friends, and community members have contributed in Caroline’s honor, transforming grief into a living legacy of support for future students. The Caroline Meister Endowed Scholarship Fund carries forward Caroline’s light by supporting students who will use drama, movement, and relationship as pathways toward healing.
To make a gift to the Caroline Meister Endowed Scholarship Fund, visit www.ciis.edu/gift.
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