Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor

[Katie_UPS]

Originally Posted by Joseph Smith

I know exactly what I'm missing out on during build season. A little bit of sleep, lots of time on Netflix and maybe some exercise. On the other hand, if I chose not to mentor, I would miss out on some of the greatest experiences of my life, and the opportunity to help new team members get as much out of the program as I did.

Your signature says you were a mentor for one year, so good job on getting past your first year.

College gets harder, and college is really really important. You aren't paying a lot of money to play FIRST. You are paying a lot of money to get the most out of your classes.

I've mentored for three years, and each year it gets worse. My first year it was fine, but I was a knowledge-less mentor. My second year, between robots and some other things, I had to drop two classes. Now I'm a semester behind. My third year I was a "mentor" but I wasn't around enough to become someone meaningful for my students, because I actually put school first.

And honestly, college kids don't always make the best mentors. We shouldn't make good mentors. We should be too devoted to school to give up that much time a week to be a full-time mentor. For the first half of college, we don't even know that much and are just super-high-school-seniors when it comes to robotics knowledge. We can't give that extra incite that defines a mentor from an older student.

I'm sure you, and others, are blowing off my comment because "I am not you and I will do it better". Like others said, if you can, great. But don't lie to yourself, and don't ruin your college experience because of it.