Who is Kashe Quest? California girl, 2, with an IQ of 146 becomes youngest American to join Mensa
A 2-year-old (going on 3) California girl, Kashe Quest created history after becoming the youngest American member of Mensa with a genius-level IQ of 146. Kashe was admitted to the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world, Mensa, with an IQ of 146 points, which is above the national average in the US.
“Mensa members range in age from 2 to 106. They include engineers, homemakers, teachers, actors, athletes, students, and CEOs, and they share only one trait — high intelligence,” Mensa's website reads
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What is Mensa?
Mensa, founded in England in 1946 by a barrister named Roland Berrill, and Dr Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer, has about 145,000 members in 100 countries around the world. The society admits individuals who score in the top 2 per cent of the population. Mensa's original aim is to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions. 'Mensa' means 'table' in Latin, and the organization is named so because it is a round-table society where ethnicity, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational and social background are all completely irrelevant.
According to Mensa International's website, Stanford-Binet and Cattell are the two most well-known IQ tests. With scores of at least 132 and 148, respectively, they are considered in the top 2 percent range. According to the Stanford-Binet test website, a score above 145 on the said test is considered 'genius or near-genius.'
Who is Kashe Quest?
Kashe's mother, Sukhjit Athwal, told KTTV, "We started to notice her memory was really great. She just picked up things really fast and she was really interested in learning. At about 17, 18 months, she had recognized all the alphabet, numbers, colors, and shapes.”
She also added that Kashe can identify all 50 states by both shape and location on a map, count to 100 and identify elements on the periodic table by their symbols at the mere age of two. Kashe is also learning Spanish and knows 50 signs in sign language.
Athwal further said, "At the end of the day, she's in that toddler stage. So she very much is still a normal two-year-old where we have negotiations, we have tantrums, we have everything and it's different because the way we communicate with her, it has to be different because she's able to understand just a little bit more."
She then mentioned that the family struggled to find a daycare or preschool "that catered to what she was able to do." Athwal, who has a professional background in education then decided to open up a preschool where she teaches 12 kids, including Kashe. "I think one of the biggest things with me and her is making sure she has a childhood and we don't force anything on her too. We're kind of going at her pace and we want to just make sure that she is youthful for as long as she can be, " added Athwal.
Kashe beat the record of Muhammad Haryz Nadzim from the United Kingdom. He joined had the society after scoring 142 on the Stanford-Binet test when he was 2 years and 4 months old.