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Unread 02-03-2009, 11:52
EricVanWyk EricVanWyk is offline
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Re: Mentor Involvement

Quote:
Originally Posted by JewishDan18 View Post
Are you from 166, talking about team 20?
No, I'm from 20 (many years ago), talking about a team I won't name (but isn't 20).

The first year I was on 20 (it was 250 then), the programming mentor did _everything_. During build season I tried desperately to learn programming, but to know avail. It turned out that he couldn't make it to the regional, so I learned PBASIC in the car ride there. My view point is very much impacted by that.

I believe that things have changed since then, but I'm not involved with 20 enough to know anything about how it is run. I do know that my 2nd and third years went much better.{edit} In my second year, that particular mentor was gone, so I led programming and taught a few students. My third year, I moved to animation (so cool!) and only provided assistance to the programmers when they asked.

{EDIT}As a mentor, I err on the side of "A Mentor's job is to prevent injury", which probably infuriates my students and make them think I am lazy/incompetent/ugly. I'm over reacting from my experience, and it is also just too rewarding to watch them learn things on their own.

Last edited by EricVanWyk : 02-03-2009 at 11:58.