THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 TAG: 9610220023
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: 104 lines
LIKE THE ELDEST baby boomers, Mensa, the original high IQ society, is celebrating its golden anniversary. The big five-oh.
And if not all the baby-boomers are conforming to expectations and acting their age, well, neither is Mensa.
Mensa's founders, two British barristers, wanted to bring highly intelligent people together to help solve the world's problems. That may have been the last time two Mensans, or ``Ms'', as members are known, agreed on anything. If you get two Mensans talking on any subject, at least three opinions emerge, with a good time generally had in the process.
``The saying goes,'' says Steve Yaros, of Norfolk, ``that to get Mensans to do anything is like herding cats.''
Yaros, who works at Langley Air Force Base, joined in 1977. He served as local secretary, or presiding officer, of Tidewater Mensa, the local chapter, for three years. Mensa has its own quaintly arcane terminology and customs. Among Ms, for example ``local secretary'' is generally shortened to ``LocSec.''
``Mensa'' is the Latin word for ``table.'' The name was selected to signify a roundtable of equals.
American Mensa Ltd., founded in 1960, has 45,000 members. Tidewater Mensa had its start a few years later. It averages around 200 on its rolls. Worldwide, there are more than 100,000 members in 100 countries.
The only requirement for membership is a score on a recognized IQ test in the top 2 percent. Because numerical IQ scores differ as reported by different instruments (as tests are known to the cognoscenti), qualifying IQ scores vary. It generally falls around 128 to 138. That equates to about 1250 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or Graduate Record Examination. Or, of course, higher: Marilyn vos Savant, reported to have the highest IQ ever recorded, is a member.
Some members join for the same reasons that people join any organization.
``I joined with a friend,'' recalls Yaros, ``when we were both single. We joined to meet young ladies and had a modest degree of success.''
Yaros met his wife, Pat, at a Mensa MG, or monthly gathering, in Norfolk in 1986. They married two years later.
Others join for the opportunity to fit in with other bright people. Still others admit that they simply wanted to see if they could get in.
Gene Hornberger, of Hampton, is Tidewater Mensa's current LocSec.
``I consider myself a very plain, down-to-earth Mensan,'' he says. ``I work as a welding engineer, rolling up my sleeves and actually doing some welding down in the trenches with the `bubbas' of the world. I'm extremely conservative. I hunt, I sail, I do things with my hands.''
Asked to describe the average Mensan, Hornberger confessed he couldn't do it.
Currently Tidewater Mensa members include a lawn-maintenance contractor, housewives, military pilots (active and retired), a lifeguard, forensic scientist, engineers, physicists - ``a lot of physicists,'' says Hornberger - teachers and students. The mayor of Williamsburg is a member. The youngest is 9 years old; the oldest, well past Social Security age.
``There are a lot of military people in there,'' he says. ``And there are some members that don't have sense enough to come in out of the rain. . . .''
Local Mensans seldom discuss IQs and scores, describing themselves simply as ``people who are good at taking tests.'' Once accepted as members, all are equal. The term ``genius,'' frequently used by outsiders, is seldom heard in the society, except in self-deprecating comments such as, ``Yesterday I couldn't spell `genius' and now I am one.''
Some Mensa chapters, local members will tell you, are stuffy and pompous. Tidewater Mensa certainly isn't.
Denise Dorn, of Norfolk, joined in 1991. She has been on Tidewater Mensa's executive committee twice, helped with the last two regional gatherings, and is currently the chapter's historian.
``My father was one (a Mensan),'' says Dorn. ``I always wanted to see if I could get in, and I could. I used to go to get to meet other people, especially non-military. It is nice to meet others including civilians. I've always tended to gravitate to more intelligent people. It sounds snotty but that's what happens. It's a very diverse crowd. In high school, they would be the geeks.''
She pauses, laughs, and adds: ``Well, not all of them but some.''
Philip May, of Hampton, is a Mensan with a vision. A teacher of robotics in a magnet program at Phoebus High School, he has just become Tidewater Mensa's gifted-children program coordinator.
``I encourage my students to join Mensa,'' says May. ``A lot don't grasp what it can mean. A company today can't ask your IQ and can't test you. But if you put on your resume that you're a member of Mensa, they can clue in on that.''
May wants to involve the schools on Southside and the Peninsula with Mensa.
``I hope to tie the school systems' gifted programs into Mensa's program,'' he says, ``to create a synergism of activities. I built resources from nothing for the magnet program. I hope to flop that experience over to Mensa.''
May views Mensa's 50th birthday as an opportunity to reflect on the group's future.
``I think Mensa will be here forever,'' he says.
Yaros agrees. ``Mensa should go on for centuries. If you want to keep young, Mensa is a good group to belong to.'' MEMO: Dawson Mills was LocSec of the Tidewater Mensa chapter in the late
1970s. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Mike Heffner/The Virginian-Pilot
Steve Yaros, left, and Neil Bates share a laugh during a Mensa wine
tasting.
Graphic
Want to join Mensa?
For Information, call the National Headquarters at 1(800) 66MENSA or
call up the Web Page: WWW.MENSA.ORG/ by CNB