Transitioning From Student to Mentor

[JohnSchneider]

What were some of the largest adjustments you had to make while undergoing this transition?
You can't be "cliquey" as a mentor. Students oftentimes will split into smaller groups, but you cant get caught up in that and have to be able to associate and interact with all of the students.

What lessons did you learn from your first year of mentoring?
It is incredibly important to take your heavy course load in the fall. The spring is not kind to scheduling, especially for a team that competes in multiple regionals/champs.

Have you tried mentoring through digital media (ex: Skype video chat, emails, etc.), and if so, how? How successful is this method?
Because I'm not there for day-to-day I often will call up some of the kids on skype at night to check in and see what all they made progress on. Our CAD also makes its rounds around dropboxes and emails so its easy to interact on that front as well.

What is it like suddenly belonging to a new team? Did you carry over many of the things you learned from your high school/previous team? N/A

Who or what was your inspiration to mentor after high school? I helped found our team and its success has always been incredibly important to me. At the time of my graduation we didnt really have any engineering mentors and so I decided it would be good for me to help out, and make sure the other kids got the same opportunity as I did. The team has grown a bit both in size and strength now, I do keep doing it though because not only is it fun, it gives me a chance to practically use the things I'm learning in college.