Another Culture Change

[craigcd]

The amount of time the mentors spend working on the robot depends of the make up of the team. I have recruited several teams in Louisiana that the majority of the students have never picked up a hand or power tool. They have never met an engineer and have never seen a robot. Out of a team of twenty students you may have two that feel comfortable using tools. These are the teams that need the most support. They are also the teams that need the most encouragement and guidance. Hopefully by the end of the build season you have core of students that can help in the repair. When you take a group of students that have never been involved in any kind of design project and try to introduce them to the First competition it requires a special kind of mentor. We try to get the students involved in the design of the robot but a firm direction is needed to keep the team focused. You want the teams to be able to compete and have some kind of offense capability. The first year is the hardest. I try to introduce all the schools that I can to the First program. I try to get them the engineers that they need to help build the robot. I try to get them the money they need to supplement any grants they have received. I have been fortunate in the fact that I have recruited several very good mentors and engineers to help the Lousisana schools. I does bother me to see only mentors working on the robots in the pit. Some times it can’t be helped. What really bothers me is to see mentors working on the robots and there is no student around to watch and learn.