[KathieK]

My experience is with a team which has had a large number of mentors working with the students over the last several years. These mentors included engineers, teachers, college students and other adults from all kinds of vocational backgrounds. While nothing is perfect, and the team dynamics change from season to season, I like to think that exposing the students to working with adults other than teachers (whom they normally have contact with on a daily basis during the school year) is advantageous. Not all of the students are planning to become scientists or engineers so exposure to other professional skills is a good thing. Because the team had grown to larger numbers and had mentoring and other support, it allowed the team to expand to include additional things like community involvement, which in turn brings in more media attention, which in turn attracts more potential sponsors and spreads the word of FIRST. Adults have networked and have more connections than the average high school student simply because we're out in the workplace and we've met a lot of people. Managing the paperwork and scheduling the school board meetings for a team with students from multiple high schools is an administrative nightmare that most students don't want to deal with, but some adults may have the professional skills to do it efficiently (and are more than willing to explain it to the students, if any were ever interested in learning about it). I think an effective mentor is one who encourages student ideas, listens to them, then offers an opinion or guidance based on professional expertise.