[Astrokid248]

My mom firmly believes that a successful team will have a team mom, who can help the kids balance school and robotics, teach them about relationships, keep the general morale up, and ensure that no matter what, the kids have a good time. To this end, she became an official district sponsor despite only being a paraprofessional (traditionally, the sponsors are teachers), and therefore goes on the trips with the kids and sets up meals and activities that maximize the amount of money we keep out of our per diem while still eating great and having fun. She also does the bumpers for the robot, and organizes the team PR supplies (teaching whatever students want to learn about graphics design). A lot of us students (my brother and I included) go to her before going to the mentors to either learn how to phrase things or to express concerns without fear of rebuke. She then helps us learn to phrase our problems tactfully, or approaches the mentors herself. All in all, she has basically taken everything she normally does for me and my brother, and extends it to every kid on the team.
Along with my mom, several of the mentors have kids on the team, and several had kids on the team and have stayed as mentors.
A weird extension of parents on the team: most students bring their parents to the competition. But one of our young teacher sponsors, fresh out of college, keeps bringing her parents to the competitions. Yes, an adult is so excited by FIRST that she brought her parents along.
That's all I've got right now.