[Kim Masi]

There are other ways casual engineering support can be provided without having to "directly" mentor a team. In the Boston area we have a program where there is a group of mentors that act as consultants to a bunch of different teams, providing them guidance where needed, and pooling resources to a bunch of different teams. It's not ideal, but it helps teams that would not have any engineering support otherwise.

Another thing you could do to solicit for interested but not dedicated mentors would be a design review. During the build season each year our team does a design review with our primary sponsor, where they bring in their engineers and we present our design to them. It takes place in one night and these engineers get a chance to offer their advice and suggestions. While this is only a one night thing-sometimes a one time participation can get a person hooked.

It is interesting because I am going to do a presentation for my company very soon as well. One thing I am going to discuss is the different levels of involvement a mentor can have, and how its the little things that a mentor can do that really helps a team. Obviously you are speaking to a group of engineers, but maybe there are some that might be interested in other aspects of mentoring, like working with the drive team or helping to raise money.

If you've been involved with FIRST for a while, it might be interesting to discuss your personal experience as a mentor and how it's affected you. A lot of people won't be interested if they don't know where they can reap the benefits, so understanding the benefits of working with these students is important.