[Jeff Waegelin]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: think carefully before you jump into college FIRST - and do it for the right reasons. Mentoring a team is a very rewarding experience, if you do it right. Make sure that you're doing it because you want to help out and be a mentor to your students, not because you want to continue your high school FIRST experience. Taking some time off is not necessarily a bad thing - it can help to give you the perspective that a lot of freshman mentors lack. But, if you absolutely can't live without FIRST for a year (I couldn't, I admit), just make sure you always remember that you are there to advise, support, and learn how to be on the "other side" of the mentor-student relationship. I learned so much from my experience, and you can too - if you keep that perspective.