Quote:
Originally Posted by cmonkey99
Now I thought the purpose of the mentors was to suggest things sometimes and help us out when we needed it. Not to change our design and make half-baked parts.
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men·tor –noun - a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
via Dictionary.com
The Keywords there are wise, trusted, counselor and teacher. In FIRST, the word mentor has its own meaning. Due to the process of building a robot being very intensive, it is important for teams to have mentors who can step in and work with the students. The students simply do not know how to build a robot on their own. Listen to Dave Lavery's speech from Kickoff 2008 about this. Other members have mentioned things that you should do instead so I am not going to repeat them. I am going to tell you how things work on our team and then you can pick and choose to whatever works for you.
On our team, there are no power struggles or split decisions. We always come to a resolution and do what we feel is right at that time. The reason behind this is simple - we are united. I don't want to brag but we have a pretty good record in FIRST games and one of the biggest reasons is the communication is right between the team. As far as the robot is concerned, we leave it up to the tradesmen and other technical mentors to decide what is right. Everyones input is taken into serious consideration and after hours of discussion and intense thought, we try to build the simplest and most powerful thing we can think of. The "robot builders" have final say in what the final design is. The rest of us can only put out ideas. When it comes to strategy, our drive team coach has final say. When it comes to programming, I have final say being the programming mentor. And when it comes to anything administrative, Mr. C has final say. Beware though, everyone has actually earned this respect by working hard and doing the right things. All of us never step on each others feet either. We respect each others decision and forgive mistakes. Mistakes are a part of life and FIRST. We also learn to deal with each others personalities because with such a large team, there will be disputes and the such.
When I was a student, I learned very quickly that the easier I could "accept" their mentorship, the easier it was for them to listen to me and my ideas. I earned their respect and trust through dedication and hard work. Many students on the team now are doing exactly the same thing. The more thankful and dedicated we were to working with them and submitting to them, the better the robot turned out. This is because now we are working together. We trusted them enough to build a good robot. I know this will not be the case with every team, but when it comes to the robot, try to think of everything in logical, practical and engineering terms. And most importantly, keep it simple. If you have certain guidelines to follow, all of you will agree on something.
My message is that you should try to find something that works as a team. No team is perfect and no team has perfect mentors or students. If you want to have a good year, you have to learn to work together. Mr. Cokeley always says if you build the team first, the robot will come. Remember, you are on the same side as your mentors, not on the other side. If you have to have a vs. game between them, then well, good luck. Personally, I have more respects for mentors on my team than any other team or anyone in FIRST. The reasoning for this is simple - I work with them on a daily basis and I know they are authentic, real people who are dedicated to doing the right thing and providing the best experience for everybody. I do not know mentors outside the team personally at that level so I cannot vouch for them like that. I am glad to be a part of such a team. I hope that your students and mentors can strive to achieve similar goals and have a good and fun year. Good luck.