[Gdeaver]

I could go on for pages and pages on this subject but will only state 2 things.

"Respect" Male, female, mentor, student Must respect each other. Respect is something that must be the foundation of a team. It is not something that just happens, it takes work.

At this age, 9th to 12th, the girls must learn how to play with the boys and more importantly the boys must learn how to play with the girls. This is hard and mentor involvement and interaction can really help them deal with this.

The worst mistake I made in mentoring was in 2003 when I put the 5 girls on the team into a group on a design build project. It was a disaster. I still feel bad for them. I created the exclusion. Now I strive to break up the natural tendency to for clicks of mono-sex. I strive to keep things mix up and not to let the clicks form. It's hard but once the barriers are broken down it's amazing to watch them perform and grow as a team.

A little respect and practice playing together.

I don't care what sex race or culture some one is as long as they want to play robots with me.