which is better as a student or mentor....
 

so which is better in your own opinion...

if you are a student on the robotics team and your team wins a regional, an award, or even championship match...

or if you WERE a student on the team, graduated from HS, came back to mentor, and youre team wins a regional/award/championship..


and if this has happened to you, what are your feelings on it? is it more rewarding or exciting as it mightve been if you were a student on the team?

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

Definatly student, because if you win something, then you are one of the direct producers of what won the award. You have more ownership over it, and thus more pride in what you did. If your a mentor and your team wins something, you are more proud of the students, because it was them that designed and built the robot. You just provided asistance and other forms of support along the way.

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

In a phrase: both, they're just different

When you're a student, the magic of FIRST is the scene and the people and the grandeur and the awards and the robots and the everything. Winning an award for your efforts puts you on cloud 9.

When you're a mentor, the happy parts are watching your students experience that, and other life successes even after they graduate. Yes, the winning and performing well is cool, but the best part as a mentor, at least to me, is seeing my kids (they hate it when I call them that) enjoying themselves and doing well.

(I was a student on HOT for 2 years and have been a mentor on the Desperate Penguins for the last 5)

Interesting thread topic BTW...

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

yea well i was thinking about it.. bc as a senior all the things you want to accomplish before your out of HS and then you get so close yet in the end its cut short...

plus our school is fairly new to FIRST.. only our second year. so i guess we still have room to grow and as a possible mentor, ill be able to share with them my experiences and help them grow..

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

I agree with Beth, mentoring is a whole new ball of wax. As a student I saw awards in regard to my personal accomplishment. Being a mentor gives you a wider view of the team's accomplishment not just individual's.

It is a bit more sentimental when you mentor the team you were a part of as a student, I guess... (2 years student / 4 years mentor 955)

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

This year the team I am a alum and mentor of won the Industrial Design award. As a mentor it means a lot knowing you showed the students a very loose concept of a robot and got to watch the students evolve it into an award winning design.

I can say that it feels good knowing the founding members (my self included) hard work has laid a foundation for a team that assuming we retain the same level of parent and teacher involvement we have now, will rarely have a bad year. In prior years/teams those same founding members had been through a lot of bad robots, organization and horrific school politics. Hopefully, the students on the team now will never have to see or be part of that kind of un-fun and un-FIRST like experience.

So in general I would have to say its just different.

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

I don't have the perspective of being a mentor (yet!), but I will share what I can:

The best feeling I've had in my time in FIRST was when I realized that I, as a driver, had had a significant role in making us the third seeded team at the Pittsburgh regional.

Overall, I think our students had the "jumping for joy, flying high in the sky" kind of joy, as well as our coach (he was terribly excited when we won a match which seemed heavily weighted to the other alliance, as well as when we had the highest scoring match at the regional), whereas our mentors have more of a look of appreciate, satisfaction and awe.

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

Success is success. Every time any of my teams has met with a big success, student and mentor alike light up with excitement. (Now, what we call a "big success" is a situational thing...but the point remains.)

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

They are very differently, but I am inclined to say that both is equally good.

As a student, you have been working incredibly hard for between several months and several years with other team members to achieve many common goals. Teamwork is often tough, especially in high school. Building a successful robot is pretty tough. Getting some kids excited about things like FIRST is also pretty tough. No matter how small the success is, whether it's just shipping a robot, maybe winning a match, winning an award making some kids smile, having fun with your team, winning a regional or the Championship Chairman's... on any level, this success validates all of your efforts and brings an incredible level of joy.

As a mentor or anyone who has worked with members of the current winning team (this includes some that may be better classified as alumni because they worked with them in the recent past), you get a very different but equally joyous feeling when your team receives an award. You have watched these students learn and grow for between several months and several years. You have guided them through the process, seen every step of the way including all their struggles and the hardest moments, and now you can see them at their peak. Knowing that your students are happy and have learned valuable lessons through all of your time is also a wonderful feeling.

So, from either perspective having your work validated, in some way, either in the form of an award or a self-realization, is a very happy moment for all parties involved. The emotions may not be exactly the same, but I don't think they can be compared or one can be quantified as greater than the other.

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

I too have experienced this. I have been with my team, 1629 (GaCo) for five years, three as a mentor and two as a student. We won the Chesapeake regional when I senior and on the drive team. Everyone was telling me great job and the students got the attention and praise.

Since then my team has been considerable more successful winning the engineering inspiration award two years in a row and playing and placing well as regionals and championships. While the feeling of excitement is the same it’s for a different reason. It’s just not because you won, it’s because the students won and achieved their goals. As a mentor, it’s you saying great job. I would much rather give praise than receive it.

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

omg...great topic. But I feel the exact same way, I had high expectations this year (slightly my fault) and was dissapointed when we didn't do as well as I had hoped, and now my FIRST experience as a student is gone. After thinking about this the week after my last regional, I came to a conclusion that my team (Team 1403, Cougar Robotics) made me who I am and FIRST's values are my values. Therefore, what I do as a student or a mentor is for my team and a team victory would be a victory of my own. Of course, eventually when I'm a mentor I will be proud of the work the students have done, like now I am proud of all that my younger teammates have accomplished and what I know they will accomplish in the future.

I'm really sad that I'll be going away however, the team has been like a second family to me, all the mentors teammates and even some of the parents. I guess the time comes when I have to start another FIRST team..:)

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

yea thats what i like about FIRST..it makes you want to keep on improving and doing better..and in the process you learn a whole new set of values that you can take anywhere and for sure it'll make it easier to succeed in whatever you intend to do..
it doesnt matter whether you win or lose.

being the first FIRST team for my school is pretty epic. so in a way its rewarding to know that if in later years my team reaches any form of success, its rewarding to know that you helped and shared in setting the foundation for the new kids to build on.. and the only way to go is up.

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

yea thats true too..
it's impossible to compare the two
both are good, yet so different..

i just wish as a senior, it wouldve been in my time that we had something successful.
but as we always say..

"next year" haha

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

Definitely the mentor.

If your a student, your proud because you helped build an award winning robot. If your a mentor, your proud because you helped build an award winning team. Don't get me wrong. I loved building the robots and still love an engineering challenge, but building a person's future is so much more rewarding.

Note: I in know way believe that I am responsible for a student's success. Their success is their success. I am just happy to be there and teach them anything and everything I can. A year where the students learn a lot and win nothing is more rewarding than a year where the team does well and doesn't learn much.

Re: which is better as a student or mentor....
 

i like that! that just might be my memorable saying from now on..