Local mom on national board of American Mensa

Her mother knew she was smart, but Robin Crawford had no idea.

"Although the school notified my mother, she never told me," Crawford said. "I grew up in Woodridge and the schools there tracked the students so I was always in classes with the smart kids.

"It wasn't until I went to college and had a lecture class with over 100 students (of varying abilities) that I realized it."

Crawford's early test scores indicated that she was of superior intelligence, high enough to be eligible for Mensa membership. Mensa came into her life when Robin was in her 20s. It was her mother who dusted off those old test scores and sent them to Mensa for possible membership.

"I think my mom really wanted to see me married," Crawford said. "Since the Mensa membership was comprised mostly of men, she thought the odds of me meeting someone there were good."

Crawford went to the meeting and found that she really enjoyed it and yes, there were eligible men there. One special guy caught her eye, Matt Crawford, now an astrophysicist, at Fermilab. Like many members before them, the two took the plunge into Mensa matrimony.

"There is a large number of Mensa members who have married," Crawford said. "We call them 'M and M's'."

The Crawfords have twins, Owen and Lindsay, who also qualify for Mensa membership. They all attend monthly Mensa meetings.

"The kids can play challenging games with members of all ages," she added.

The vibrant and funny Crawford serves on the national board of American Mensa. She spends about four hours a day working for the organization.

She is a suburban mom who, like the rest of us, hates to do laundry, carts her kids around in her minivan and volunteers. She was actively involved in the Fox Valley Mothers of Twins and Triplets when her kids were younger. Most of the moms knew of her Mensa membership.

"They would tease me sometimes when I did something quirky," she said, "but most accepted me as just a regular mom."

For Crawford, the work with Mensa is an outlet that allows her to use her intellectual abilities and people skills.

She also is committed to being her children's advocate when it comes to learning. She believes the gifted program at Batavia needs improvement.

"Members of Mensa represent the top 2 percent of the population," she said. "That's one in 50. The average intelligence is 100. If we have programs for students who are at 70, shouldn't we also have programs for students who are 130?"

If you think that all Mensa members graduate first in their class, they don't. According to American Mensa, "A high IQ score is not necessarily an indicator of wealth, ambition, or career success. It simply indicates that a person has higher than average reasoning abilities."

Mensa members range from CEOs to cab drivers. They like astronomy, golf and sci-fi movies. Less than half hold college degrees.

According to Mensa, "some students with high IQs do poorly on standardized tests because they use the time needed to do the test to think of broader, more complicated answers. Both Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein did poorly on tests and were not successful in school. However their reasoning abilities allowed them to make major contributions to society."

Are you Mensa material? Try the taking the mini test that runs with this story. If you do well, plan to take the official test on Mensa Testing Day on Oct. 20.

"I hope to set one up at the Batavia Public Library on that day," Crawford said.

For more information, visit usmensa.org.