[JVN]

A few general thoughts...

1. Students who graduate to college will take a few years (in some cases more than a few) to develop into mentors. That transition represents a major paradigm shift. One difficulty in that transition is most students (myself included) don't even realize a change is necessary. In some cases this ignorance can border on arrogance, "I'm mature, I understand this program and because I've been a student in the past I'm probably a better mentor than some adults out there. I've even got an advantage because I'm close in age to the students I'm mentoring." This can be a major problem to overcome in any student.

2. Students who return to their original teams often find that members of the team (students and mentors alike) will have difficulty adjusting their perceptions of them. Team members will still think of them as "little Billy, the shy kid who we got to come out of his shell" or "little Johnny, that punk kid who set the lab on fire because he was being an idiot". These preconceived notions make this student-to-mentor transition even more difficult. Joining a new team will solve this problem, and provide a clean-slate for the budding mentor to build on (whether they choose to make the transition effectively on the new team, or whether they find themselves falling back into "student mode" is another story... see #1 above.)

I only mention this third point, because "strong clashes" between students and mentors were mentioned...
3. Sustaining a program often means doing things which are unpopular to the students on the team. To keep a team running, the sponsors, community, parents, school district all need to be happy. Sometimes mentors are forced to make difficult decisions for the good of the team which many of the students may not understand or like (this can take many forms). A younger mentor who has not fully matured, and who still has strong ties to the students on the team may cause problems for the program.

Everyone loves passionate students. Everyone loves passionate mentors. However when you have someone who is really passionate but may not fully understand all the "politics" involved with running the team, they may do harm even as they try to do good.

4. There are other college activities which are as much (or more) fun than FIRST, and will look just as good on a resume. (I wish I had time to do Mini Baja at Clarkson, but instead I focused on college mentoring).

5. Just because a college student is not involved in a team, doesn't mean they can't be involved in the program. Regionals are always looking for more volunteers.

-John