First of all, let me tell you how much I completely understand how you feel right now! I was the same way last year, thinking about it being my senior year and how I wasn't sure how FIRST would fit into my life down the road. My first (and probably best advice for you at the moment) is to live up your last year as a student. I tried to do that last year, but got caught up in the sadness of it being my last year. If you live it up, you'll be happier later on.
Right now, I am a student at Ball State University and currently a college mentor for Team 1720. I got into contact with the team before I selected my college, because I knew I still wanted to be involved with FIRST. So, you should research the college or town you will reside in after high school and see if there is a team there that you could work with. Then get in contact with the team and start asking about becoming a part of their team. In my experience, the team was very accepting and happy that I wanted to mentor, and greeted me with open arms.
If you do end up joining a team, there are a few things you need to keep in mind: your primary concern should be school. Doing well in school is more important than mentoring a team. I used the first semester of college as my transition period. I attended a meeting here and there for robotics and helped out a little, but my main focus was the transition between high school and college. You'll get a good feel for college by the time kick off roles around. Now, I attend 3-4 meetings a week, giving myself enough time for both my schoolwork and my work as a mentor. And my team is very understanding that I'm a full time student and can't make it every day.
I am also volunteering at the Midwest Regional in Chicago.
What problems have I encountered? Well, at first I think I tried to bite off more than I could chew, so to say. I tried to throw myself into a mentor position as soon as I came to college without allowing time to transition. I realized this, took a step back, and then came back with an even greater for joining the team.
Probably one of the hardest things for me to do was to realize that I was on a NEW team with a NEW role. I wasn't the student anymore. I'm helping mold the future. Like Katy said in this thread previously, it's not about you anymore. It's about what you can do for the students to help them grow. If you join a new team, they will have a different way of doing things. I started off saying, "Well, on my old team..," but now I realize that I am on a new team who already have their own identity. While I will always love Team Hammond (my previous team), I realized that it was time to move on, take what they taught me, and pass on my knowledge to others. It's hard to switch from putting everything you have into one team and then putting it into a completely new team, but it is necessary if you are going to be a successful mentor. That was probably the hardest part.
It is all up to you, really. What worked for me or others may or may not work for you. You'll know what is right for you when the time comes to make a decision. And even if you take some time off of FIRST, you can be happy in knowing that FIRST will be waiting for your return...
