[ebarker]

I'm basically with Alan on this one. I do not think FIRST should be in college for many reasons.

These students need need to focus on school and move on to new and fresh experiences. A time will come when they will return to FIRST as educated and experienced mentors. It may be in a future job or when they have kids but the day will come.

There is a large pool of potential mentors out there right now that are fresh and motivated. They just need to be recruited. They need to learn more about FIRST type programs. If properly presented they will come. And when they come there is a possibility that due to their presence funding might improve. Either because their company has an allowance to give to initiatives that their employees are involved in, or they may know someone that can donate, or they have some talent in fundraising.

In a little over two weeks MIT will be releasing the 1st in a series of short videos that you can use to help with mentor recruitment. It is from an effort called the MIT Mentorship Initiative.

Stay tuned.