Re: Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor
 

As a general comment, I believe college students should always pick a non-academic activity to get involved in at school. It is the best way to meet others and be able to become more well rounded. FIRST is a good activity, especially if you can recruit other students to join you. Be sure however to decide what you can commit to. Remember that you don't need to be "all in" to still be helpful to a team. And even more importantly remember that you are no longer "doing" but rather "advising" or some flavor of that. That said, when I hear someone suggest dropping out entirely to focus solely on academics, I strongly object and feel that they don't have a truly realistic view of what you can do in college. This may be one of the most memorable periods of your life so enjoy it as best you can.

Re: Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor
 

I am at VT right now and spend the end of my winter break and my spring break mentoring 1086. If you are careful to balance it, you can mentor and still keep up a strong GPA. You can also mentor 401, which is offered as a class for mechanical engineers but I believe you can also mentor without going through the class. The key is that you budget your time and keep classes number one priority.

Re: Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor
 

As someone who is a current junior in college, and spent the first 2.5 years starting and running an FRC team, I'd recommend against it. FRC will be there when you graduate. There are so, so many things that won't be. Take college to experience the things that you will only have a chance to experience while you're in college.

Our team feared this happening, and for returning alum that are wanting to mentor we started a mentor group that we called mini me's.
That is they are shadowing the mentor in whatever mentor subset they want to perhaps move forward in, wether that be programming, business, build/design.
We are still a young team and have gotten our first few alum back this year. The hope is to keep the interest, and involvement in first but without all the pressure of being a full on mentor.
Plus let's face it there is a learning curve to being a mentor. I know I am still learning

Re: Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor
 

My advice as a college mentor is to take a semester or two off from FIRST and learn how to manage your time in college. It is ok to volunteer and attend kickoff and competitions, but take some time to get your college routine under control. After a semester or two, if, and only if you feel as if you can manage your time mentoring a team and maintain your academics, start introducing yourself back into FRC. Personally, I started doing this by only attending meetings once every other week and doing most of my mentoring remotely via skype and giving feedback on documents posted to our team drive. Once you have mastered balancing this type of commitment, you can consider becoming more active as a mentor. As a second year now, I meet with my team once or twice a week and communicate with them almost daily on things that can be worked on remotely. The one thing that you have to keep in mind though, is that school should always come first! It is ok to miss a meeting if you have a big exam to study for or need to catch up on homework.

With all this being said though, I think that college mentors can be some of the most valuable mentors a team can have. College FRC alumni know how to relate with the students on the team because they have been in their shoes, and also have the experience to guide a team to success. Another added bonus is that college students don't really know what sleep is, so they can be at the shop during the late build nights when all the adults want to go and sleep. I know personally, there have been several occasions when my kids needed an adult at the shop because none of the parents could come, and I was able to sit at the shop on my laptop working on schoolwork while they worked on the robot.

In summary, mentoring in college is incredibly rewarding but focus on yourself and getting adjusted to college before jumping back into FIRST. You probably will never be able to give the same time commitment you did while you were a team member in high school, but you can most definitely still make an impact on the team.

Re: Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor
 

April,
I hope you can find an answer in all the responses. Let me talk as a senior mentor and parent for a little while. You have some issues that you need to prioritize. School and family come way before FIRST and other fun items. Take care of the important items first. You will be a great mentor if you can get your life straight and get the education you want to get. Then come back to FIRST when and if you can. Let it be a reward for your hard work at school. In your area, you could easily volunteer for a simple position if you can take time away from your studies. As you get your life organized, you might be able to take on more roles like mentoring a team or working with FLL. However, we all want you to develop the skills you need for the rest or your life. Don't let FIRST get in the way of life. Let FIRST be an extension of your life when you are able. It will be better for you and for the people you will work with. I would rather not see you for four or five years and know that your are being successful at school then to see you at every event and know you are struggling.