As the last hours and minutes of 2020 arrive and leave us for the new year of 2021, hopefully we are all looking ahead to a new year full of marked improvements. In a 2020 hindsight, it seems as if any change in the current state of affairs will be an improvement for most of us across Mid-America Mensa (MAM) as well as for our friends around the globe. Will the promise and hope of a vaccine for resisting the novel coronavirus and fighting symptoms of COVID-19 sustain us through early 2021 and beyond? Many of us think so, I imagine. What else is there that could possibly happen in and around MAM and the world to make our human lives better and not worse?
ETHNIC EATS
In January, let’s have a bit of an adventure; the theme will be soup and the challenge will be for each of us to choose one variety from whichever world region that inspires us. It doesn’t have to be homemade. It can be takeout from a local restaurant or procured by any other (legal) means. MAM members, check out your copy of the January 2021 Mension for all of the related, ‘sip and slurp’ Zoom meeting details.
MENSA SCHOLARSHIP ESSAY CONTEST
If you or one of yours is looking forward to starting a course of post-secondary education, January is the deadline for Mensa scholarship applications <mensafoundation.org/what-we-do/scholarships> and the start of the essay judging process. Because of the efforts of the Scholarship Chairs and all the Local Group and Regional judges who carefully score all those 550-word essays, and also for the contributions of our generous donors, American Mensa will once again ease education funding for more than 150 deserving winners.
In addition, MAM’s Local Group scholarship judging for the coming year will be conducted solely online. Luckily, last year we got some experience with the new and improved Mensa scholarship online judging process. Our whiz-bang scholarship national officers and staff took in all of our suggestions for improvement, and we’re looking forward to a smoother, more enjoyable process this year.
PRIVATE TESTING
At this time, Mid-America Mensa has suspended in-person testing by our MAM volunteers, so we’re happy to see a new option available to those who are interested. The Private Testing program is a supplement to the Local Group testing program. We hope to resume our Local Group testing sometime in 2021, but until then, prospective new Mensa members should check out the Private Testing option.