Combine both and become a scholarship judge!

One doesn’t have to be a Mensan, but should be over 21 with above average English skills (c’mon, not such a high bar).

When you sign up you’ll be given a few instructions, including how to rule out ineligible essays, and you’ll get something everyone can use: a short, example-loaded paper on how to discern AI-written essays. Which are disqualified.

The online website https://mensafoundation.awardspring.com/ is very easy to use. Essays are batched in groups of 50 and might be from any state. Each one-page essay will take about five minutes to judge, but disqualifications are much faster.

We have until March 9th to complete our batch(es). You can work from your computer at your convenience. The final winners now get a minimum $1,000 scholarship and they range up to $5,000. I’ll announce the winners from Virginia in the May newsletter, on our Facebook group, and on the local webpage.

Sign up by emailing Jill Beckham at Jillb @ mensafoundation . org 

Lynnette Hartwig
Central Virginia Scholarship Chair, Region

RAMarks
Hope you are surviving Snowmageddon 2026! Your RAM ExComm officers are hard at work to expand opportunities for you to connect and grow with fellow Mensans, including a pending membership survey to better understand the activities in which you are most interested. So, reach out to us via this website (or see the officer list in the back of the newsletter) with any interests or concerns, for 2026 is shaping up to be a fantastic time of intellectual fellowship.

To that end, please RSVP for Monet: The Immersive Experience and dinner afterward on Saturday, February 28 (see newsletter for details). The Monet event builds on the RAM Summer picnic, Christmas party, Van Gogh museum tour, as well as Escape Room, Games Night, Dining Out, and Unplugged ongoing events.

We are also soon updating RAM’s By-Laws, so let us know if you are interested to participate. And if so inclined, please also consider switching your RAM monthly newsletter receipt from the physical to the electronic version, if applicable (see instructions sent via email and in the February newsletter). Cost savings from this small change frees up a large sum of money that can be re-allocated to producing even more events for you. NOTE: it is perfectly fine if you wish to continue to receive the physical copy.

As well, please consider volunteering. It is an incredibly rewarding experience! With volunteers like you, we host events, a website, a Facebook site, a newsletter, and more for you to meet Mensans like you and enjoy all things intellectual.

Here is a list of currently open positions:

• 3rd Member-at-Large
• Activities Coordinator
• Gifted Youth Coordinator
• Ombudsman
• Tri-Cities Area Coordinator
• Charlottesville Area Coordinator
• Williamsburg Area Coordinator
• Roanoke Area Coordinator

Your experience in Mensa is what you make it. Increase what you get out of RAM by increasing what you put into RAM. Thank you. Hope to see you soon!

Cheers, Andy

President, Richmond Area Mensa

In 2024, RAM members attended the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. It was a fantastic time! We even hoped that event sponsors might repeat the exhibition in the future featuring Monet. That is exactly what has happened. To wit, RAM is soon going to also take in Monet: The Immersive Experience!

The Monet exhibition is a 360-degree digital art showing in Richmond that invites you to step into the world of the French painter Claude Monet, one of the greatest artistic geniuses of the nineteenth century. This captivating experience, a previous winner of USA Today's 10 Best Readers' Choice Award, is brought to you by the organizers of a collection of widely successful exhibitions present in cities across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

We’ll meet at 4pm on Saturday, February 28 at 12151 West Broad Street, Henrico, VA 23233. We’ll all then go out for dinner afterward, though each person pays their own way for dinner (NOTE: RAM will purchase various appetizers for the tables).

RAM will subsidize a ticket for each of the first 15 RAM members who RSVP with Mensa #. You can also bring guests, if desired, but guest tickets are NOT subsidized and should be purchased separately at
https://feverup.com/m/471068. Prices for non-refundable tickets are about $37/adult, $31/senior (65+)/student (13-26), and $22/child (4-12).

RSVP is required. Please see recent emails or our February newsletter for instructions. Deadline for subsidized tickets is February 15.

See you soon IN the paintings of Monet