[Kevin Sevcik]

Speaking as a former student and current part-time college mentor.... If the fact that high-school students don't bow down and worship you for being a mentor makes you this angry, then perhaps you should consider a different line of work. Most mentors I know are in it because they enjoy working with the kids and helping them learn about engineering. Yes, they don't know how much time you put in, but bear in mind that they're putting in a large amount of effort as well, and giving up an awful lot of their free time too. You do realize that they have school and homework and long nights spent building the robot, don't you?

Also, being a mentor doesn't instantly qualify you for the respect of the kids. Just like anything else, this respect must be earned. Just spending time around the shop isn't going to do a lot to get you that respect. You have to be there often, working with the kids, and actually making a connection with them. Otherwise you're wasting your time and theirs. I know. My team has had more than one "mentor" blow through, spend time working on the bot and bossing the kids around and generally totally missing the point of the endeavour.

When you get right down to it, it's a team thing. Everyone contributes and no one's more important than anyone else. Those who can't understand that need to take a step back and re-evaluate their priorities.