Finding a Mentor

[mikeeeatwork]

Our son's school had the exact problem. Our son mentors the team now since he's a freshman across the bay. They still have very little school support. My wife did meet with the principle so they did have a new teacher mentor that can help with programming. But yes the time commitment from there is definitely not there. Last year (their rookie year) they built the whole robot out of a garage themselves. I was so proud of them. It had lots of wood but was so neat!

I made lots of suggestions, but I think to them it was a little late planning wise. You can always look up regional engineering associations and ask if they have any people for you to contact. But I do think parents and alumni of the school are your best bet. The drawback for us the local university SF State has a very small engineering department.

[bearbot]

Their are many teams in Maryland.My team 2849 Ursa Major is located in Columbia,MD not sure how what part of Maryland your from.Our first year was just several teachers from our high school who watched over us.We began with 2 high school on one team and a few years later they had enough members to begin their own team.

[jimwick]

I think it basically has to be word of mouth for that initial contact. Then try to show them as much about FIRST as you can. Once you do get involved it's easy to stay.

Don't overlook old guys like me. I first became a mentor when I was 65 or so, and am now 73. At that age I began to have some time available for working on FIRST, and a flexible schedule. If my brain is no longer working my teammates have been too polite to mention it.

I think it is important to clarify (with your school or whoever) what authority and responsibility a mentor would have. Competent experienced people are not going to want to have to deal with a lot of mickey mouse rules, from the school for instance. I have heard of cases where experienced mentors had to defer to school faculty on every decision; that would be no fun.