[thoughtful]

Originally Posted by KathieK

Wow, didn't see a single post in this thread about mentors and the non-engineering aspect of a team... just a question, not meant to insult or inflame, just curious, on the student-led teams, how did you eat during your Regionals? Was one of your students in charge of figuring out where the team would get breakfast, make the bagged lunches, figure out what restaurant could seat you all for dinner? And did you put your hotel reservations on your credit card (to be reimbursed later)? Our team has a large mentor base. I'd love to talk to a team which is more student-based to see how you do it all.

I think you have a good point. IMHO FIRST is about collaboration between mentors and students. Although, i may not have any right to make this statement but i think a team shouldn't be 100% student-built/led or 100% mentor-built/led. Students love to build robots, and i also know that they love to get guiudance from their mentors. Its about finding the best balance. However, its important for all of us to understand where some of these posts are comming from. Sometimes i have myself seen mentors scouting, building, strategizing and even moving(to/from matches) the robot!. This is disapointing for me, either the team's students dont care or they are not allowed to. Both of which are unacceptable in FIRST. If any team has a situation like this the best way is to communicate. All mentors are selfless, they take their precious time away form home/daily routine to come and help the students. If the students talk to them and explain their dilema they will co-operate.

Just my $0.02