Transitioning From Student to Mentor

[Jorge Ayala]

Right know I am in a similar situation to yours just with one fundamental difference. My university and my high school are part of the same institution (crazy things we do in Mexico) and they are basically in the same place. But I'll tell you, if you have the chance to mentor and make the new kids grow and learn things about robotics and themselves your sacrifices will be worth it. Just keep focus on your current studies. College is something to take seriously, take that into account, don't let mentoring affect your grades.

In my personal case I am going to mentor the engineering part of my team and that is something that I feel I need to do. The thing is that our team has never had good mentors, each years our engineering mentors change bringing new problems for the team. I feel the responsibility to give my experience to the new generation of LamBots so they can make the team a winner team. I am not saying we are not a winning team, we won the EI award at the champs but our robots are still lame (and for that we blame the mentors for not listening to us). The only thing that can keep a team alive are their mentors, students come and go but experience needs to be kept by a group of people and this group of people are the mentors. Go ahead and good luck with mentoring. Share your experiences with us at the end of your first season as a mentor.