[Lisa Perez]

The situation on my team is a slightly different from the norm since the majority of our mentors are college students who had done FIRST as high schoolers and are currently enrolled in engineering at the University of Michigan.

This considered, our mentor base is (and has been for the last two years) divided into the following: mentors and senior mentors. The mentors, who are generally first- or second-years on the team and may still be getting accustomed to the busy schedules of college, focus on technical aspects. The senior mentors, on the other hand, focus on both technical and non-technical aspects.

For us, the mentor structure has helped to show the students that they can get the best of more than one world. I have noticed that students who had been focused on the technical aspect of FIRST before are now doing things such as organizing service events, running demos, taking care of media, and giving tours to VIPs at events in addition to their designing and building.