Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneYoung
It works. Absolutely.
I did a brief search for a wonderful comment regarding 2nd year team members becoming first year mentors. My search failed but maybe someone will find it when they read my poor reference. <apologies>
It is true. A second year team member does not have the accumulation of knowledge and hands on experience that a fourth year does - but - a second year has the beginnings. Setting up a system of training and mentoring the new team members is awesome and helps strengthen the team from the inside out. Seniors naturally worry about leaving the team and yet we find each year that because of the training and mentoring program that we continually work at, the team continues to thrive and improve as our seniors graduate and new students join the team. It's very exciting.
My suggestion is to start now. If you are small and a relatively new team, you can still start/begin. Set some short term goals and long term goals and begin to work towards them. And when frustration sets in or disappointment - take a deep breath and keep going. The work and effort you put into the team may not show immediately but it will eventually show and someday shine. |
Our team actually did start this kind of system. We have Pi-tech Academy, which is our pre-season training for members who want to learn a different skill for the build season.
For the rookies, we started a First Vex (Tech) Competition Team 1676 in order to train them in the process of FIRST, designing and building the robot, as well as the necessities at competition and otherwise. Our second-year members become the mentors for this new set of rookies.
This is our second year with this team, so the second year members mentoring have prior experience in this competition. Last year, the mentors did not have previous Vex experience, but did have experience in FIRST.