[Beth Sweet]

I think that the number 1 most important thing that makes a person a good mentor is that they care. Whether they have any knowledge whatsoever about robotics, if a mentor doesn't care, they won't make a difference. On our team, passion about the team is basically a mentor requirement. Though we love all of our mentors, I'll talk about some of our most popular mentors.

One of everyone's favorite mentors is Ken Velzy. Though I'm not sure how active he is in FIRST as a whole, he is a big influence on our team. Whenever a wrongdoing is committed he assigns push-ups. Now in all reality, no one actually has to do push-ups, though it is funny watching the freshman look at him trying to decide if he's serious. Things such as tardiness, sassing back (even jokingly), and overall annoyences to Ken result in pushups. Ken is an active mentor who truly shows that he gives a care about us.

Another of our favorite mentors is Tom Nader. Also known on this site as a UFH, Tom is loved because of his involvement with our team as well. He's always there, whether for a HOT Team event, graduation parties, senior pictures, or anything else you could possibly imagine (and trust me, on our team the unimagineable comes true).

I could seriously go on and on typing about each of our mentors and what a difference they make on our team, but I'm sure that you've all stopped reading by now, so I'll wrap it up with this thought.

The entire team depends on the mentors. Mentors shape how successful a team is. A mentor who cares is the key to a good team.