The scholarship program aids the leaders (and Mensans) of tomorrow

  • Jul 24, 2014
  • Marie Mayer, Foundation Vice President

The Mensa Foundation’s scholarship program wrapped up a whirlwind year with the help of many volunteers and generous supporters. Overall, $83,500 from donors, Local Groups, and the Foundation was awarded to 181 students. To celebrate, we’re ramping up for the coming year. (Is it crazy to celebrate work with more work? Maybe, but it’s a happy feeling to know you’ve made a difference.)

Last year, we successfully took the process online. This year’s goal was to extend eligibility to students in areas where a Local Group was not participating. After assessing the feasibility and logistics, we forged into that new territory. Jane Gmur, Minnesota Mensa, served as an Assistant National Scholarship Chair to handle this section of the expanded program. To meet the judging needs, she put out a call for volunteers, with 55 people responding to help. (Thank you, all.)

Submissions in this area were not eligible for the “participatory” scholarship but were eligible for relevant regional and national scholarships. A total of 997 applications were received in this first year, keeping Jane and her judges busy.

You may wonder what that meant for participating Local Groups. Each of the 93 groups who completed the process had a $300 scholarship awarded on their behalf with the funds provided by the Foundation, in addition to their applicants being eligible for relevant regional and national scholarships. Apparently students heard about those scholarship opportunities, because a total of 10,184 applications were received.

Add in the 199 Mensa member and the 32 international submissions, and that’s a whopping total of 11,412 applications for scholarships in the 2013-2014 program year.

Mensa Foundation Scholarships

Obviously, the scholarship program has grown (a good thing), and the job of National Scholarship Chair has become a bit too large for one volunteer (even our super-dedicated Mary Dwyer Wolfe). So this year, we also added an Assistant National Scholarship Chair for the Mensa Member scholarships section. Ken Silver, Minnesota Mensa, stepped up to successfully coordinate our maiden voyage with that process. We continue to look at optimizing the existing strengths of our process while incorporating assistance from volunteers.

Besides growing in number of applications, the program grew in both the size and number of scholarships. Generous donors and Local Groups contributed funds to increase some scholarship awards and create new awards.

New national and regional awards for this year:

  • The Greg Timmers Arts Education Scholarship for a student in the fine arts and/or applied arts such as architecture, photography, ceramics, and textiles.
  • The Skinner HELL’s Ms Memorial Scholarship for a student in interpersonal communication or alternate dispute resolution.
  • The Charlotte Duggar Memorial Nursing Scholarship for students with a nursing license who are pursuing studies in the academic discipline of nursing in a degree program accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission.

Each of these three scholarships was begun by people who wanted to make a difference for a student and chose to memorialize someone who was dear to them in this way. Local Groups continue to find value in having Foundation-managed scholarships. The following Mensa groups funded a new local scholarship this year: Central Iowa, Connecticut & Western Massachusetts, Hawaii, Mid-Michigan, Northwest Florida, North Texas, Oregon, and Western Washington.

They joined these groups who already fund a local scholarship: Broward, Central Florida, Central Indiana, Chicago, Delaware Valley, Denver, Georgia, Greater New York, Greater Phoenix, Greater Los Angeles Area, Memphis, Minnesota, Northern Michigan, Orange County, Redwood Empire, Rhode Island, San Diego, and Western Pennsylvania.

About that celebration… we invite you to join us. Scholarship chairs are currently being lined up for next year, and there will continue to be a need for judges — in your group and at the regional/national level. Donations are always welcome, too; none is too small or too large.

Thank you, everyone, who helped your Foundation with another successful scholarship program.