[Oblarg]

Well, scratch another year of balancing FRC mentoring (for two teams) and university classes. Here are some thoughts, in case anyone might find them helpful/informative/interesting.

This one was significantly more stressful/difficult than the last: I took five classes rather than four, including what is regarded as the most difficult undergraduate math course at our university (Galois theory). Both teams combined, I spent about 40 hours per week on robotics for a large chunk of the semester, as opposed to 20-25 last year, and was in a far more crucial role on 4464 than previously. After build season ended, I missed a total of 9 days of class due to traveling to competitions.

The results were very good. Both 449 and 4464 were the strongest they've ever been; the latter reached worlds for the second time in two years and played an important role on the winning alliance at the DC Regional. In terms of academics, I managed nothing below a B, and an A in the hardest course I took. My grades took a hit from what they would have been, but it wasn't disastrous.

That said, I would not do this semester again in the same way if given the choice. It's far too much, and no results are worth that much stress. I implore anyone who intends to mentor as a college student to hedge either their participation on the team or their academic workload during the spring semester. After the last day of build season, I essentially slept through three days of classes. I did the same after spending the entirety of my spring break working on the practice bot. I cannot imagine that the amount of exertion was healthy, nor the unending state of stress that lasted for essentially the whole semester.

Perhaps the most telling moment was, when asked by a parent of one of 4464's students how I manage to keep up with all the class I've missed and time I've invested into robotics, my honest answer was that I didn't. I managed as best I could in the time I did have in class, and as it happens that ended up being good enough to learn most of the material and receive acceptable grades. That is not a healthy approach to college, and I do not wish to repeat it.

I will not say that you should not mentor as a college student, or even that you should not be in serious mentoring position with a large amount of responsibility as a student; I have gotten a huge amount out of my participation in FIRST after graduating. I will say that you must be wise about your own limitations and the amount of work you take on. Err on the side of caution; having come frighteningly close to burnout this year, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that you don't want to suffer the consequences of getting it wrong.