Quote:
Originally Posted by mathking
All of the mentors work on the "mentor as coach" model. We are trying to help the students become better engineers, better problem solvers and better teammates. The important thing for mentors, in my view, is that all of the mentors have an understanding of the team culture. Making sure they do is one of my most important jobs.
For us, probably the most important thing about the mentor role is that every kid on the team has at least one mentor they really connect with. Someone they respect and feel safe talking to. Someone whose opinion they respect. The mentors are there to guide and inspire. That means making connections. Not every mentor is going to click with every kid. But every kid should click with some adult on the team.
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Strongly agree with this! Well said. We all want to build successful robots that we can show off on Einstein, but only a few of us will get to do so. But every single team can make an impact on every single student that passes through. In my eyes that is a much more valuable prize.
Although nominally my role was "robot systems integration", I spent a lot of time visiting other subteams and making intentional connections with students. Saying hi, having casual chats, occasionally joking around or surprising people with cookies and cupcakes. My actual role did require me to have knowledge of the progress of each group so I could keep everyone synchronized, but I tried to turn it into an opportunity to connect with everyone.