The results are in for the NH Mensa Education and Research Foundation (MERF) Scholarship Essay Contest!
New Hampshire Mensa is pleased to
announce the winners of local and regional scholarships from the 2005-2006
Mensa Foundation Scholarship Essay Contest. The contest is open to any
student who is enrolled in a degree program in an accredited U.S.
institution of post-secondary education and who currently resides in Maine
or New Hampshire (our local group’s area). Each applicant must write an
essay which describes his or her career, vocational, or academic goals.
Blind judging is then done on three levels: local, regional, and national.
65 essays were submitted for consideration this year; our winners are truly
the cream of the crop.
Gratitude goes out to the many volunteers who made this year’s scholarship
contest possible and successful. Scholarship Chair Adam Freiband did a
wonderful job of coordinating everything: rounding up judges, disseminating
the essays to them, moving the essays up the chain for regional and national
judging, and so much more. Essay Judges Ed Stevens, Frank Repensek and
Elaine Cote gave much of their time to this important service and deserve
many thanks. John Bauman picked up the ball to complete the awarding
process when life (and Iraq) got in Adam’s way. The whole procedure of
notifying schools and colleges of the contest got off to an easy start due
to the stellar record-keeping of Curry Bartlett, Keeper of the List. And
Elizabeth Becker came up with great fundraising ideas that helped us raise
nearly all the scholarship money we needed at this year’s Regional
Gathering. Deepest thanks to you all!
This year, two of our entrants were awarded
regional scholarships by the
Mensa Foundation: The $500 Grosswirth-Salny Scholarship has been awarded to
Jessica Destramp of Hudson, New Hampshire, a senior at Alvirne High School.
The $300 Diana Mossip Memorial Scholarship has also been awarded to an Alvirne High School senior,
Crystal Landry, also of Hudson, New Hampshire.
As for local scholarships that come directly from our chapter, the $500 Joe Zanca Scholarship is also being awarded to
Crystal Landry, and the $200
second-place scholarship is being awarded to Benjamin Waters of
Peterborough, New Hampshire. Benjamin is a freshman at George Mason
University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Invitations to Mensa events are being extended to Jessica, Crystal, and
Benjamin, so we hope that many of you will be able to meet them this summer.
We offer our congratulations to them and wish them great success in their
studies as they work hard to achieve their admirable educational goals.