I will tell you what I tell all of our new students and mentors; watch Simbotics' seminar series.
http://www.simbotics.org/resources/s...seminar-series.
I like to print out the PDFs ahead of time so I can take notes. I have watched two different versions of the video of strategic design and was able to attend Karthik live at FIRST CMP in 2015. Each time I watch I take something more to bring to our team. With small exceptions, this is how we run our build season.
The other episodes of the series are equally informative. Be sure to watch the q and a. This is in its own way as informative as the prepared presentation
118 does a nice video, Robonauts. Contentwise.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v5bzyUSzI2g
I am told that Citrus Circuits 1676 has a good training, as well.
As far as, your actual question, almost all of our mentors come from our parents. We are a community team that draws from over 10 school districts in south-central York, PA and have grown to 37 students this year, so our situation may be a bit different. We have 12 lead and associate mentors that are parents. Only 5 are engineers. Since our motto is about building students, we have professionals from many other areas. Most contribute to the design or construction of the robot, as well as, their own expertise.
Bottom line for us, keep an open mind. You never know what you will find.
Finally, look at the requirements for rookie all star. This is a ticket to a World CMP.
Never say never. Because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.
Michael Jordan