[trezelle2]

Hello!
I don't know if my experience is quite what you're looking for, but I'll share anyway.

I'm with Team 5471, which was a rookie team in the 14-15 school year, and also my senior year. My father and mother both became mentors; my younger brother, then a freshman, joined as well. Our team had half a dozen students; I became Team Captain and Drive Coach (I don't recommend - a lot of stress), as well as putting together our Sponsor Packet - I did a lot for this team, helping get it off the ground, and I got super attached.

Then, less than 6 months after I went to the off-season event with 2 other prospective team members to see if we even wanted to form an FRC team: I graduated. And, unlike others I've heard about, I was going to college 4 hours away, in a different state.

I'm a mentor now; with the ENTIRE family involved, I don't think I could stay away. But I'm kind of a part-time mentor. I don't do build, really. I had a nice break from mid-December until MLK day, so I got to do Kickoff and help moderate planning discussions, but I'm not involved as much with that side. I've taken up some of the Spirit stuff that our other mentors aren't as interested in; I finished the Sponsor Packet with help from the team, and then when I got home for Thanksgiving, I went out with a few members and we got a handful of new sponsors. My spring break started on a competition weekend, so I took a bus to the competition and mentored there. Now, with build season & competition over, and me home, I'm helping run fundraisers.

My biggest project was one of my own invention. I realized that with such a small team, we couldn't, and didn't, vote for team leaders. I talked this over with the other mentors, and it became my pet project. In the fall, I was home for a Friday-Monday long weekend, and did a presentation about the different roles on our team; during my aforementioned Winter break, I interviewed all of them individually and discussed their strengths & interests. I went back to college, and looked over my notes in my free time to make a set of recommendations, which I sent to our Lead Mentors by email. Then, when they'd been approved, I Skyped in for a build session and a Lead Mentor and I told each person what role they had. Now, as I'm done with school, I'm doing exit interviews to figure out how to improve this process.

At competitions, I floated; I told the other mentors that, after being a very overworked/stressed combo of Team Captain/Drive Coach, I felt strongly about making sure that Drive team was taken care of, while build mentors kept an eye on the pit. So I did that - I reminded the drive team to eat meals, forced them to step away from the pit and take breaks, etc.

Figure out what you love about FRC and your team, and, as others have said: figure out what you can do, physically, mentally, and emotionally, that balances with your schoolwork. I've had to really figure out what works. Students asked me at one point why I didn't know this or that, or why I didn't Skype into a particular meeting, and I've had to assert to myself, mentors, and the rest of the team at different occasions that I need to be a student first when I'm at college.


Anyway, that's just what worked for me & my new, small team