The 6 Week Build Season and 'Mentor Burnout'

[LMD3130]

I'm our team captain, but in this topic I do not represent the opinion of our team, or that of our mentor. Although being restricted to 6 weeks can be very stressful for all people involved, it is part of what makes this competition "The hardest fun you'll ever have". Our team started four years ago, and has been desperate to catch up to the elite teams of our state, for those 6 weeks our students come in every day after school from 3:20pm to around 9:45pm or 10:00pm, we also come in on both Saturdays and Sundays at around 11:00am and stay till 10:00pm (often 11:00 in the last week), and finally this work may finally be paying off in putting us up in the elite. I understand that this is a lot to ask of our mentor, and he does put up with it to much, but we also have about five or so dedicated parents that often come in after they are done at work and help out, and although they aren't as technically skilled as our mentor, they are very helpful and help alleviate the pressure put on him. After the 6 week season ends we take a short break to recuperate, and then ease back into our work, this year I missed a total of about 4.5 days (work and illness) and although at the time I may have felt burnout, I knew that this was a necessary evil to accomplishing a working robot in 6 weeks, I say that because I believe in this case my mentor has the same opinion. As a final note I believe that "removing" the 6 week limit is detrimental and would steer new people away when they see the commitment required, it also takes half the fun out of the competition. 6 weeks is the way to go!