Quote:
Originally Posted by Sperkowsky
So then lets call the graduated seniors mentors. Or why not just have the graduated seniors attend without going through the school.
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I'm not sure you quite understand the massive school-politics pitfalls involved with either suggestion.
The second suggestion is more straightforwards: That's
always an option. But, that would mean that they'd be traveling on their own dime, in most cases--the school wouldn't be able (er, willing) to help out; in some cases that could also mean that the team wouldn't be able to help out. That alone would probably drop a number of graduated students.
The first suggestion has a large impact on team finances and dynamics. OK, so you graduated. You are now a mentor. That means that instead of bunking with 3 other persons in the room, you get only 1. That means that the number of rooms needed for those seniors doubles--and the cost to have those rooms doubles. (This would be driven by school and team policies, mind you, but that's a pretty typical breakdown.) Better be good at fundraising.
And the team dynamics part... Let's put it this way, could YOU mentor a team, as a MENTOR (including all roles filled by the mentors), and have the students that were your peers two weeks ago treat you as a mentor? I doubt it--there are very few people that could make that sort of transition that quickly and easily. So as the seniors find their new roles with the team, there's bound to be some, shall we say, establishment of the pecking order--which would have an unfortunate tendency to create friction within the team that doesn't need to be there.
Could it be done, sure. Is it going to be more hassle than it's worth, probably.
I actually had something similar in college--but in that case, most of the team was seniors and this was the senior project, and as an engineering competition team sponsored by the school, we weren't the only team competing after the end of the semester so they're somewhat used to that sort of thing. I'd figure that most high schools shut down their teams after graduation and only resume them for preseason conditioning workouts.