[EricH]

Our team is one of the 50/50 teams, and it has worked very well. I admit that things may be different on a large team, or different on any team for that matter, but our mentors and students work well together. The frame was designed, cut and welded by engineers and sponsors. The robot was designed in general by the team including students and mentors. Students did prototyping with mentor advice.

Even a team that has more mentors than students may have students running a part of the team that nobody sees, and the same thing goes the other way. I am a student. I come up with ideas, run weight checks, design the scouting sheet, and scout. Mentors help and finalize. This is behind the scenes. In the machine shop, one of our sponsors who is also a mentor does all the major cutting and shaving jobs, partly because no student knows how to do it.

What I am saying is, don't judge a team by the visible proportion of mentors to students. Don't jump to conclusions. Better yet, respect the team for being what they are. Every team has a different way of doing things, and who are we to judge them for it?