[Alan Anderson]

My knee-jerk reaction: don't do it.

I can't judge whether you have the discipline to keep your team affiliation from interfering with your responsibilities in college, so I won't list that as a reason. Even without it, I still have several points to make.

First, as a beginning college student you probably don't yet have the experience to be a true mentor.

Second, as someone the same age as some of the team's students, you risk not being able to have an appropriate perspective when required.

Third, if you slide directly from being a student member to a non-student member without a significant intervening event or a season away from the team, you're setting yourself up to be less of a mentor and more of a hanger-on.

If you do want to keep ties to your team and the FRC community after you graduate high school, consider just being a volunteer and not an official mentor. Don't take on any leadership roles with the team. Don't expect to be given any real authority. Instead of being sad about losing the experience of being an FRC team member, embrace the opportunity for new experiences and significant personal growth.

Or just do what you want to do; that's good too.