[CoreyBrown]

Firstly, as many have mentioned, taking a year or two off of FIRST while you are adjusting to college is a fantastic idea. This is helpful to adjust to the college atmosphere, extend your reach to other college clubs or groups, as well as identifying yourself as a mentor. If you are mentoring your old team (which it sounds like you aren't... but someone else reading this might be), some of the students that you were on the team with won't see you as a mentor. They will see you as a friend. This is yet another reason to take time off.

What were some of the largest adjustments you had to make while undergoing this transition?

For me, the largest adjustment I had to make was the fact that I couldn't just jump in and do something as thoughts popped into my head. When the team needed someone in the shop to work on the robot, I couldn't be the one to volunteer (unless there were students that wanted to be there too).

What lessons did you learn from your first year of mentoring?

The good: Mentoring is extremely rewarding. It was a pleasure to see the evolution of the students as they grew into more well rounded individuals. Students that were extremely shy came out of their shells, and students that didn't know how to operate a screwdriver at the beginning of the season, became leaders at the competitions. This was wonderful.
The students (sometimes) honestly believe you know more than they do. Although this was scary for me at first, it made me realize (or at least think) that the students looked up to me as a role model. This means that they wanted to follow my example. I had to set a good example.

The bad: It is very hard to let the students fail, but it is very important. The students learn much more from a short term failure than they do from being told what the right direction is right off the bat. I had an issue with allowing the students to fail when I began mentoring, but as time progressed, I realized that they needed it. After a failure is where a mentor can step in and say, "Hmm, maybe there is a more [elegant/easier/plausible] solution to this problem."
Conflict management is also difficult. Make sure you are prepared for this; I wasn't.

What is it like suddenly belonging to a new team? Did you carry over many of the things you learned from your high school/previous team?

I had the pleasure, along with several other FIRST alumni, to help mold the team as it started. This probably made this transition very easy, as I felt I could bring over the good from my former team and allow for all the other mentors to do the same. Overall, the transition to a new team was natural and easy for me. All the experience I had with robot design and general FIRST experience definitely carried over and helped me guide the students in a productive direction.

Who or what was your inspiration to mentor after high school?

I immediately fell in love with FIRST as a student. This inspiration, I feel, is shared among many students in this program.

Words of "wisdom"

-When/if you become a mentor, jump in and be a leading mentor, but be sure to respect the team rules and culture.
-Mentor != Boss, and Mentor != Student. Mentor = Teacher.
-Encourage the students to get into everything they want to get into, make sure they don't just "settle" in a niche. Just because a student shows interest in electrical systems one year does not mean that they necessarily want to be stuck there the next year.
-Although it may be hard to find time to commit sometimes, for me it was almost always worth it. The students have chosen to make this rather large time commitment, they will respect that you did as well.


Thanks for reading this gargantuan post. Hope this helps some future mentors out there.