As essentially everyone else has said, I must agree that you are indeed a mentor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber
HOWEVER, I would suggest, for your own benefit, that you help out a different team. Take it from me, every single team is different, they have their quirks. Being exposed to different ways of doing things can only expand you as a person.
|
I would definitely agree with this (although I understand your predicament with lack of money to do so). The team I mentor now is not the team I was a part of in high school, and the two are very different from each other--but in a good way. It definitely helped me grow as a person to experience being a mentor on a team with students I never met and fellow mentors I didn't know. I feel like I'm making more of an impact than I could have if I stayed on my first FIRST team, only because the distinction between student on the team and mentor on the team would not have been as clear; students with whom I was on the team and worked alongside for years would turn into students I was mentoring, and that would have been difficult.
Besides all that, I think it's great to expand your reach and knowledge to other teams who might need your help and mentorship. I had a "mentor moment" this past weekend at Boilermaker in which a student told me that they could not have done Chairman's if it wasn't for my help. I was so proud of my team that I can't even express in words how much they mean to me as a mentor. I was humbled by the student's words, and glad that I decided to reach out my expertise to another team who could benefit from my skill sets.