Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ken Leung
Do you recommend other High School graduates to become a college FIRST mentor? Why or why not?
|
I think this is a really important question to ask, and the answer is pretty obvious: It depends. Not every high school student is cut out to be a mentor.
If you put in 250 hours during the build season, eagerly waited around for jobs to do, drove the robot for 4 years, have 2,000 posts on Cheif Delphi and your whole life was changed by FIRST....
it doesn't matter in the slightest.
One doesn't become a mentor because of a title, age, or even because of their passion. You becomes a mentor when you've truly touched someone's life.
I see the title of mentor, advisor, and engineer thrown around interchangablely in these threads... when it couldn't be farther from the truth. The minute that YOU decide that YOU are a mentor or a role model is the time when you probably couldn't be farther from it. It's not a God-given title or one you bestow upon yourself, it's a title given by someone else whose life you've touched who decided to let you know.
To keep on topic a bit more... college students, I believe, can be among the greatest mentors. The age difference is minute, and it gives high school students the unique opportunty to see not where they'll be in 10 or 20 or 40 years, but where they'll be in 2 or 3. They'll have the chance to see that college isn't about partying and keggers, but rather it's about growing up, getting a better grasp about the world around you, getting an education in a focused field you enjoy, giving back to your community, sleepless nights, cramming for exams, and having a once in a lifetime chance to do things you wouldn't be able to do otherwise.
When high school students see THAT aspect of college, the reality of it, it loses that unatainable aura. It motivates them to do better in school so they can be just like
YOU. It's
incredibly humbling and incredibly rewarding.
So to answer the question:
Q: Do you recommend other High School graduates to become a college FIRST mentor?
A: Only if you're going to give 100% of yourself, and try to improve the lives of the students you're working alongside by living out a life that will have a positive affect on them.
If you just want to build a robot, just want to have a good time, or if you want try to relive your high school days... don't bother. Don't go back to your high school's team because you have nothing better to do or because you really miss FIRST. Go back and make a difference- don't just participate.
Matt