[Electric Parrot]

Clarify the purpose of FIRST. I'd say engineers who know java, and have been using it for years are already following a science carrier path. The purpose is to give the students the experience of working on a realistic engineering project, and it's probably a little late in the season for your programmers to learn an entirely new language. (Correct me if I'm wrong but: ) It basically boils down to either the students do the work, or the mentors do. Which do you think fits the purpose of FIRST more? If your mentors think they should be doing the coding, then you might want to have a talk with your team about the issue.