[funstuff]

I think that this topic is one that will never have a definate answer. I will however, post my own opinion, as I am a 3rd year veteran on 624.

Some adults may forget that we, as teenagers, feel a need to prove something to the world. To prove we are adults and adequate in the world. THIS is why teams knowingly participate in FIRST without adults to guide them. The students are in part blind to the fact that they do not know everything, as they might hope, and also in part, they are just as stubborn and controlling as some mentors.

Some students fail to realize that thirty-some-odd years ago, when the adults that are now assisting them in their endeavours, were students themselves. But unlike now, thirty years ago, there was no FIRST. There was no organized outlet for their creativity. They had no big and fancy toys to play with during their high school years, such as we have today. So, just as parents want to do their child's science projects for them, the mentors want to build the robot for the students. When they build the science project, of course that project will get first prize in the science fair. But is this fair? Hardly. It is not fair to the students. It is not fair to the other teams. It is most certainly not fair to the mentors themselves.

The best team is comprised of both students and mentors. And by mentors, I mean adults that help guide the students through the building process. There should never, ever be "mentors" building the robots, while the students of the team play cards. In that instance, they cease to be mentors and are simply engineers.

The mentors should be the people who ensure that things are getting done, but are not doing said things. The students who design and build the robot should, by all means go to their mentors with their problems, as the mentors are the ones with college degrees in engineering and physics. I have many an instance when even the adults learned something from the students.

Our school sponsor this year and last year, as opposed to previous years' sponsors, is not a physics teacher, or a calculus teacher. She teaches Spanish. When we first got her involved, she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, except supporting some students who were in dire need of assistance. Now, she has learned so much from the students and the other mentors. She is, in truth, a FIRST fanatic at times. But this is what happens when the spirit of FIRST inspires people. I have seen it inspire not only students and mentors, but parents as well.

There must always be a balance, and, as posted above, a sense of respect between the adults and the students. Both sides need to understand that most of the time, students have minds and ideas with an abundance of creativity, just like most of the time, mentors have minds and ideas with an good deal of knowledge and experience. These two entities can not, despite many beliefs, survive without one another. The best way to survive is to thrive, and to do so by working with one another, rather than against one another, that is truely success, whether or not the competition is won.

As a team, we have realized that only under extremely lucky conditions will we ever win a championship, being primarily student built robot. I think no one is devestated by this fact because there is so much more to FIRST than winning. We realize that many times, the teams whose robots win or are almost perfect are not built by students, by any length of the imagination. Our team, to the best of my knowledge, would rather do OUR best, with mentors working alongside students, than be THE best with great sacrifices in who builds the robot. We are not a machine. We are a team. We make mistakes and we learn from them. That is a fact of life. Any team that can not make a small mistake without great consequence is more machine than human. And all teams are primarily human, with one very important machine. But I digress...

Simply, the mentors are a necessary factor in a FIRST team, but they will almost always tread the fine line between mentoring, and doing. Keep in mind that students are the core of every team, a necessary evil. Without the students, there would be no FIRST, just a bunch of old men sitting around playing with their hi-tech toys, losing their creativity. The mentors are not a necessity, but a great and valued component to any team.