[LeelandS]

Something I've given 1405 a lot of credit for since I joined is it's ability to build it's own mentors. As a small team, about 1/4 of our total mentorship is made up of alumni, if you count myself and Alex Cormier, who are FIRST alumni, but not one of 1405. As far as college mentors go (of which Alex is not one), most of our college-alumni are full-time during breaks or when available, but part-time whenever they are non-essential, especially during down-time like now, while we're waiting for Champs.

1405's alumni generally have taken fairly prominent roles on the team, comprising two of our mechanical mentors, our lead software mentor, and most of our strategy/scouting effort, as well as our team's primary photo/videographer.

In my opinion, if a student is inspired by the program enough to want to remain involved, far be it from a team to deny them. It's kind of a beautiful cycle, isn't it? Inspired kids come back to inspire more kids. Who will hopefully in turn inspire more. Seems like it's within the realm of FIRST's goal to me.