[Al Skierkiewicz]

Commander,
I feel a need to interject some fact here so there will be no misunderstanding in the future. As a lead inspector, I have worked long and hard with teams in the pit and have seen those rare occassions when mentors were left working on robots. In many of those cases, they chose to stay while releasing their students to travel back to school, participate in another school activity (testing, band or orchestra concert, prom) or allow them to finish some school required homework prior to the rigors of competition. I know of several teams where the lead teacher assigns work that must be completed by the end of the weekend in addition to other school work. In all of those cases, this was a TEAM decision. I know of at least one school where the students had to travel by public transportation to reach the regional each day. That was a 2.5 hour ordeal to the inner city each way. I applaud the mentors and teachers who help teams make those decisions.
Eric, unfortunately, there are robots designed and built by adults in this competition. Each team decides for itself how it must be run. I for one stand on the side of the fence that promotes team decisions and adults working side by side with students. Although there are some decisions which should be reserved for team leads, most others should be by the team.
We as mentors should balance our decisions and statements on the benefit to the students. All too frequently, people forget this simple fact. If a decision by a mentor(s) adversely impacts the students on the team, then that decision needs to be rethought. I think that teams can have a great time when they have a competitive robot and try their best. For student only teams, they lack some of the experience that engineering mentors can bring to the team. Conversely, mentors need to learn from the students and the competition. I often astound my fellow engineers by using techniques I have learned in this competition. Students inspire me to do better and learn more. I hope that I am returning that favor.