why do we mentor?

[jwfoss]

After hearing this question fairly often I offer one of my students messages from the end of his last official regional as a student member of FIRST Robotics Team 2168 - Aluminum Falcons. Messages like this are why I mentor, and why i will continue to be a part of FIRST.

As posted here: http://jwfoss.posterous.com/why-do-i...chool-students

"This competition made me realize how lucky our team is to have great people surrounding it. The mentors did an awesome job this year. Kevin and James did awesome with the programming. You can't get much better than a hundred percent autonomous scoring rate. Christian was huge for pit work and mechanical changes. Josh and Justin, our new mentors, took this team to the next level. They designed this robot and made sure it was put together and working properly. They put together the mini bot and deployment as well and got it working by the end of the day when it mattered. Everyone put in the time and the work and gave us an awesome robot to put on the field. They gave the drive team the opportunity to be great. And we were. Our robot was dirty. Unfortunately we were picked by the eight seeded alliance and had to go against the championship team in the first round. In short, our mentors are awesome. They allowed us to go on the field and compete. Because of them I got extremely competitive and seriously got into this game. Not only were they extremely good at their jobs in the pit but they were extremely cool people to be around. I made friends with all of them and they made my first experience great. Because of them I now love FIRST robotics. They deserve recognition. Thank you guys.

I would also like to thank Mr. Chidley. He didn't have a glamourous job but it was important and without him we wouldn't have been at this competition. He registered for and organized the events. He set up the hotels and food options. He organized the meetings and made sure everyone had a ride to get to the competition. He also heckled our sponsors into giving us money. He's the only person in our school who even cares about robotics and without him we wouldn't have a team. He doesn't get the recognition he deserves sometimes and I would like to say thank you.

Another person who did awesome this year was Mrs. Entwistle. She put alot of time into the pancake breakfast which raised us a good amount of money. She supported team throughout the season and she deserves a thank you as well.

Everyone I've mentioned (and I'm sure there are others I haven't) has changed my life and I want to thank you guys for that. You gave me a great senior year and turned something I wanted to do to impress colleges into an awesome experience. You guys are great."

- Matt Myles, Senior, Going to WPI for Aerospace Engineering Fall 2011