Quote:
Originally Posted by Boris5202
Yup, that's definitely our ideal, but we've only existed for about two years and have failed to attract any other mentors. Part of the reason we're presenting is to try and attract some of the teachers to be mentors.
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The best place to look for mentors is among the parents of the team members; the vast majority of our mentors were recruited because they had a son or daughter who was interested. Many of them stay even after their son/daughter graduated, or even quit the team. If that doesn't work (or not enough), try local businesses and trade unions. Tech companies are great, but local garages, A/C-heating, and the like are also great places to find mentors. Also, ask the team members if they know anyone who builds anything or is an engineer or programmer or electrician or mechanic who might be interested in helping. If there's a remote control club in your area, try there!
When recruiting people, there are two main reasons give why they can not mentor:
- Lack of time. In this case, appeal to the prospective mentor's desire to improve lives. Because FRC does improve the lives of those in the program today, and will improve the lives of the whole world in a few years.
- I don't know anything about building a robot. In this case, confess that hardly anyone knows much about robots until they start to do it. However, you already know about [wiring/building/programming/gears/motors/using a lathe/managing a project/whatever], and that is certainly something about building a robot.
Actually, in a "very rural" area, probably a majority of the adults there have learned to build and repair things on the fly, just to get through the day. They may not be building robots, bot those skills can certainly be applied to robot design and building!