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

Wrong. My team (857) is comprised of one high school teacher, 7 college students and 17 high school students. As far as "engineers" go, the college students are all 857 has. We're supported by GM, Ford and DCX through Michigan Tech, yet have no professionals - in any capacity - to help us out. College mentors are key on 857 because without them, there would be one high school physics teacher and a bunch of high school students. Houghton doesn't have the engineering industry (and small businesses simply aren't interested - yet, we're working on it) to help us.

That said, DJ is 100% correct. I took a year off from FIRST - mostly because I was in the process of switching schools at semester last year - thinking, "Hey, I'll have some time to get my act together and then I can mentor." It was a nice thought, but my semester GPA will reflect that my act - as far as school is concerned - was far from together. While mentoring a team is a phenominal, rewarding experience, college is far too expensive to come out saying, "Well, I graduated with a 2.5 GPA ... but I mentored a FIRST team!"

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

Quoted for truth. Do what you can to help your team, and never give anything but your all; but show your students you know what needs to come first.


-Stephen Yanczura
-Former Member 195, Southington, CT
-Current Mentor 1660, Harlem, NY

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

My high school team was mentored by Ohio State engineering students. They were some of the most inspirational people I've ever met. I still keep in touch with several of them now as they've gone on to PhDs, jobs, and so forth. They're very valuable connections and I really enjoyed the chance to get to know them and learn from them. Not being very far removed from the high school experience, they understood how we learned, how we worked, and could adjust their mentorship appropriately.

Also, if you talk to Woodie and Dean, they want nothing more than to figure out how to get more college students involved as mentors.

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

After hearing many a story about slipping grades, burnout, and such, I decided to take a more laid back year with FIRST. I helped with Boilermaker Regional, and that was it. And I think it has proven to be a good choice, my 3.5 GPA is right about where I want to be for my freshman year and I have had more time to dedicate to school work. Though I'm not going into Engineering, the Computer Graphics Technology department at Purdue has given me more projects this year than I had throughout many years in high school. Regardless of your major, your first year of college is meant to test you and it will. Now that I've had a year off, I'm hoping to come back full force next season.

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

Ken,

I'd have to disagree with that statement. At Purdue, things are similar to MTU's ways. The college students play a very big role on each team (at least my team last year did, and Ive seen no evidence to prove it otherwise). The college students team up with 2 or 3 teachers from each high school with Purdue Faculty overseeing the students as a whole.

Sure there will be exceptions to this as every school is run differently.

If you come into a team at a limited role, or telling yourself you will only go 2 days a week, its very easy to let your guard down and those 2 days turn into 5, 6, or every day.

It's a tricky situation and everyone is different. I provided my story just to let people know the risks in addition to the many benefits of this program.

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

I shall be brief: as a student on a Purdue University team, I have found that my college mentors inspire me. No, they're not professional engineers. But hey, they know more than I do, and I suppose that is the key here isn't it?

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

I said my post would not be popular, and several students have already complained.

If you have a FIRST team with only college students for mentors that is not the ideal situation. Its not what FIRST was intended to be, and its not in the best interests for the college student.

I would much rather have a person finish their degree and spend a few years gaining professional experience first, and then mentor a team, than to have a person be a mentor while they are in college and compromise their grades ( to any degree).

You only get one shot at college, but your career will last the rest of your life. If the promises of FIRST are real there will be plenty of engineers to come back and be mentors once they have their career started on the best footing possible.

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

I repeat: I have had conversations with both Woodie and Dean, personally, where they ask me (I'm about to finish college) how they can change FIRST to get more college students involved as mentors. I would be careful assuming what FIRST "intends" for teams.

Also, as a former student mentored by college students, I found that, compared to the teams I met at competition who were mentored by professional engineers, we had more chance to actually do the work on the robot. They also were less able to say "Well, we know this is bad, because of 20 years of experience, blah blah blah..." Sure, we messed up more, but I think we learned so much from it that it's worth it.

I would not presume to assert that one FIRST experience is better than the next. There exist successful teams without *any* mentors. And for that matter, "successful" is entirely relative. FIRST intends for students to be inspired -- that's what the acronym means. I was inspired by my college mentors. The mentorship fulfilled its purpose. What more do you want?

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

Also -- I'm sorry to double-post -- I just went through three very successful job interview cycles resulting in three amazing offers. Two of the three were through FIRST contacts I've made in the last four years, while at college, in my mentor/volunteer capacity. One was through another connection, but, in all three of them, at some point during my interview the issue of teamwork, team leadership, and how to teach and explain things came up in one way or the other. My FIRST mentorship experience was perfect for answering those questions -- being a mentor is challenging, and going from student to mentor is a difficult but rewarding change. I believe there is a lot of benefit to the college mentors in this respect and it can in fact vastly improve the footing on which they begin their careers. It's a continuous cycle of inspiration, encouragement, and networking. It shouldn't have to stop just because you go to college.

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

This is the main point of FIRST. If you can't believe the acronym, what CAN you believe?

That said, we have two graduating seniors this year, and at least one plans to try and stay involved next year. I will point him to this thread so he sees the stories everyone has shared, but obviously it's up to him to know if he can handle it.

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

I really appreciate the college students who have time to help teams, but I have to agree that no commitments should be made that might interfere with school. Students, parents and scholarship sponsors are paying for you to concentrate on a degree, and deserve you holding up your part of the bargain. If you can volunteer without losing sight of priorities, great. Just don't make promises that you shouldn't keep.

That being said, I understand that things get in the way of schoolwork. FIRST is a lot better reason than mine or many students' to go on academic probation ;) . (Note: I also made the good Dean's list while at MTU)

Edit: My wife pointed out that priorities apply to all mentors. Jobs and families have to come first for everyone.

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

I was thinking about this last night (boy did this past Championship get me thinking!), and I have been debating for a while now about what I am interested in doing for FIRST when I move to Miami for college.

I have been thinking about waiting at least one year before getting involved in mentoring another FIRST team in the area. I certainly do not want to attempt to start a new team, because as a freshman, I know I will need time to adjust to my new environment and establish a living routine before I throw myself into such a time commitment.

However, I am seriously considering getting involved in starting a Lego League program at the Miccosukee Indian School - an elementary school on the local Indian reservation. A friend of my mother works there, and she told me that the technology teacher at that school is interested in incorporating Lego robotics into the curriculum. I am hoping that I will be able to help him with preparation of curriculum materials, and in the founding of a Lego League team if there is enough interest. However, founding a team there will be time intensive, and I am currently debating as to whether or not I want to get involved in doing that yet at this point.

I am quite sure, however, that I want to become involved in South Florida FIRST. There are probably a lot of organizational tasks that I can easily complete from my dorm room (paperwork, phone calls, etc.), and I am very interested in brainstorming more ideas to make the organization more effective and far reaching.

And of course, I am interested in volunteering at the Florida Regional and next year's Championship, as well as helping with the organization of Mission Mayhem, the off season competition in Ft. Lauderdale.

I figure that if I try to limit myself to things which can be done easily without having to spend a great deal of time off campus, I will be able to balance homework and my job. Volunteer work and brainstorming/paperwork for South Florida FIRST will hopefully be manageable for me. As for the Lego League program, perhaps I can serve as an adviser for the time being, and only mentor FLL and FRC teams when I am positive that I have the time and energy to do so.

-- Jaine

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

I thought about mentoring when I came to college. Then I started working, joining a sorority, a community group, and just hanging out. To be honest, I'm glad I'm not mentoring a team. WPI's term system basically leaves C Term parallel to the build season. I can not afford to lose my scholarship by devoting too much time to FIRST instead of classes.

I enjoy volunteering. Volunteering is a great way to allow yourself to still be involved in FIRST. FIRST constantly needs volunteers for events. You see a different side of the events. You get to see how the FIRST magic is made. You don't have to worry about the team or team drama.

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

Attention all Seniors thinking of mentoring, THINK before you decide to ACT!

If you decide to mentor, you are asking for a lot of time to be taken out of your schedule. It is very demanding and you will not have a social life, well maybe but who knows. During the fall semester, reality step in and I was not doing that well. However, my fellow mentors (high school teachers) agree that I could take some time off and get hit my studies once again. Currently I am still mentoring 204 and possibly looking into mentoring another NJ team this summer, but who knows. Remember you or your family or F.A is paying for the college education and you need to keep up with your studies and do the homework. Mentoring is not for the faint of heart and should be decided among-est yourself and your family members first. I suggest that you take the freshman year off and volunteer at FIRST event or off-season competitions. After freshman year, if you feel that you can do it, then mentor a team.

Also, on another note, DO NOT START YOUR OWN TEAM AT YOUR UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE. If you decided to do this, you will fail and not succeed at college. Trust me, I have talked to many college mentors who have done this and now are paying for the repress icons because of it.

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

::waves:: I started my own team. Then again, I'm in the first ever class at a brand new school -- we had to start *everything*. I did wait until my sophomore year, so I had a good sense of my limits, time management, and so forth. Time management is an important skill to learn. I didn't do many other clubs or organizations, but I did have time for FIRST. And I have a halfway decent GPA!

You know what you're capable of. The above post is right: think before you act. But taking risks is sometimes a good thing.