Anita's Room

Hi! I'm Max's sister, Anita! It was really kinda sweet of him to make room for me on his Web site (yeah, since I'm his "evil big sister," I was a little surprised). But I just wanted to tell you about some of the fun things I'm involved in.

School? Meh. It's OK. I get teased a lot because I'm different from the majority — but whatever, I've learned to deal with that. In Mensa, though, being smart is cool. They understand that when you’re a kid, it can be hard to be smart. And there are a lot of other smart kids to hang out with, too!

First off, there may be a Gifted Children group in your area as part of the larger Mensa chapter. All over the country, these groups get together to do different stuff like go on field trips and play games (y'know how people stop wanting to play games with you, because you always win? Not a problem around here).

Mensa also has a national special interest group (SIG) called TeenSIG. TeenSIG provides a social sphere for people between the ages of 13 and 19 to interact with each other within Mensa. We make our presence known en masse while having fun and making friends in an intellectual environment. And we get together at Mensa events like the Annual Gathering, where TeenSIG has its own room and activities throughout the event. Check out TeenSIG's Facebook group.

Speaking of the Annual Gathering, the organizers go out of their way to accommodate all Young Mensans. There are activities all day, every day, for the little kids through a program called Kids Trek. Then they've also added another get-together room for the tweens (ages 10-12, I guess?). Max is really looking forward to it; he's the tween room coordinator this year!

But, like I said, one of the coolest things about being a kid in Mensa is that people "get" you, and they don't assume you're ignorant just because you're a kid. There are plenty of regular programs and events that we can enjoy. Here are links to a couple:

• Mind Games: Spend a weekend playing — and rating! — brand-new games that none of your friends have ever seen? Take home an extra game or two from the event? Duh! The only catch is that you have to play a LOT of games, like 40 or so, to get the free ones.
• Colloquium: No, I haven't bothered to look up the word yet to see what it means. But in Mensa, it means a weekend-long program where they dig into some topic of interest to society in general -- and they bring in nationally and internationally known experts to speak.

Hey, do you love to read, like I do? Love to shop, too? I like to visit Mensa's SmartBuys online store to see what's new in the Mensa publishing world. Books, puzzles, games, DVDS… it's all there.

Then there's this crazy rumor Max heard, that they're going to start a Mensa magazine for gifted children. I don't know any more than that, but when I do, I'll add it here!