[Jon Stratis]

Ike's post got me thinking more about favoritism. And frankly, it's all perception based. It seems that every year my students ask me who my favorite is, or even tell me who my favorite is. Does that mean I'm sitting there finding ways for my "favorite" of the year to get something she doesn't deserve?. No... Rather the students that other identify as my "favorites" are the ones that are dedicated, show up to every meeting, work hard, and show leadership. They get seen as "favorites" not because of what I do, but because of what they do -individuals that are around more and help lead the team usually end up working closer with the mentors as we help them figure out what's going on so they can then effectively lead others towards a common goal. Others get their share of time working with the mentors, but it's often on smaller scale, focused projects with more heavy mentor oversight - they don't go off and work independently very much. It's all based around the perceived needs of the individual student, not around who I personally like or dislike.

My team has also had students with involved parents take on visiblecompositions and leadership roles. One of them was a two year captain and Championship Dean's List Winner. Others have been on the drive team, sub team leaders, captains, part of the design team... All very visible leadership roles. But it all has to do with the individuals involved, not their parents involvement, and I really hope my students have seen that. I have heard comments that would point to them accepting that - saying that so-and-so was amazing and we need to model parts of the team off what she did, etc. But I can't guarantee that every student sees that or agrees with it. And as a mentor, I really don't know how to ensure that all of the students feel like they have an equal chance at those roles. Not when some of the decisions are made "behind closed doors" in meetings between the mentors or mentors and captains.