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Unread 30-04-2013, 16:44
Karibou Karibou is online now
Steel is love. Steel is life.
AKA: Kara Bakowski
FRC #0341 (Miss Daisy)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Rookie Year: 2008
Location: Conshohocken, PA
Posts: 1,852
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Re: Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiifi View Post
TL;DR: Right now I am the "Senior Technical Mentor/Coach" for 2470, I mentor 3081 and have been asked to take the coach position, I coach FTC #5943, I am president and founder of GOFIRST at Dunwoody, I am currently have an internship at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (2470's primary sponsor) and I am attending college for 19 credits per semester. Let's just say I am glad FIRST is my passion and social life.
Kudos to you, man. That's a lot on your plate and it sounds like you're handling it pretty well.

From an alternate perspective, I've been at 16 or 17 credits for the past two years of college, and I can't imagine myself having the time to mentor a team as well. Granted, I've chosen to take part in other activities within the school that also take up significant amounts of time, but they don't cause nearly as much concentrated stress as build season. I could have chosen to mentor teams here, and I'm sure I could have adapted to the challenge and workload, but I don't think it would have been the best choice for me. For now, I'm content with volunteering when I'm able to (which is not nearly as much as I would like) so that I can stay involved with FIRST, but still pursue other things.

So, your mileage may vary. You're not obligated to mentor as a college student: there are other ways to stay involved, if you want to. If you want to, great! But there's no pressure.
__________________
Kara Bakowski
Michigan Technological University///Materials Science and Engineering '15///Go Huskies! #tenacity
kabakowski(at)gmail(dot)com
FRC 341 (2016-present): Mechanical/build mentor
Volunteer (2010-present): MAR Seneca '17, FTC Hat Tricks Qualifier '16, Brunswick Eruption '16, MAR Montgomery '16, MAR Westtown '16 Portcullis Victim, MAR Springside-Chestnut Hill '16, Ramp Riot '15 '16, FiM Escanaba District '14 '15, MidKnight Mayhem '13 '15 '16, FiM Detroit District '13, IRI '10 '12, FiM Waterford District '11 '12, MARC '12, CMP Galileo '11
FRC 1189 (2008-2011): Team Captain, Pit Crew, Website group leader, Team Education group leader, Proud Alum. We've got spirit, yes we do...


WMWBS '10 '11
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