[Zyrano]

I'd say please please make FIRST your 4th or 5th priority ( whatever it is but a lot lower than what it is now) as a new college student, not only is your school work more important, but so is the actual college experience, join some clubs, make some new friends, etc. In fact, i usually tell my seniors: if they want to be involved, volunteer for an FLL team or just as staff at a competition, these gives you time to focus on school and your new environment. AT A MINIMUM, don't get sucked in as a primary/critical mentor. I am saying all of this because I have had several students/friends that got sucked in and took 2-4 more years to finish their college and ultimately get burned out.

With that said, my experience is possibly a bit dated. I was a student in 99

I think most of the advise above is similar to what I have to say, but to inspire, ask questions do not do actual work (think management at work =). I work with a few local teams, and i find my job for the most part is

1. bring food/drink coffee
2. keep an eye on everything and make sure nothing unsafe is going on (wrong tool/wrong job, etc)
3. ask questions to kick start thinking
4. suggest different tools, processes, doing things a different way (perfectly ok if your suggestions are ignored as long as safety isn't an issue)
5. answer questions that are asked, typically explain concepts or how things work.

I usually do get hands on to hold things or if it is crunch time and they need an extra hand...

As to what inspired me to mentor initially, it was the mentors that spend many hours of their time mentoring my team. Now I mentor because of the energy and the process of seeing the students grow over the years.