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

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

I'll do this activity:

Why did I want to be a mentor when I was 18 (to the best of my memory):
I wanted to still be in FIRST.
I wanted to be a successful young mentor.
I wanted to be important.
I thought it would be fun.
I wanted to say I started a team.
I had other friends that were mentoring and I wanted to mentor too.
I was told it was hard and I wanted to prove people wrong.
I wanted to be a strong female in FIRST for other girls.

Did I think about helping students, or wanting to inspire kids the way someone inspired me? Maybe. I don't remember. And honestly, I probably thought/said that because I had to. Not because it came to me naturally.

Now lets cross them off.

I wanted to still be in FIRST.
I wanted to be a successful young mentor.
I wanted to be important.
I thought it would be fun.
I wanted to say I started a team.
I had other friends that were mentoring and I wanted to mentor too.
I was told it was hard and I wanted to prove people wrong.
I wanted to be a strong female in FIRST for other girls.

------------------------------

Only half a reason exists (and I crossed off half of it because I know part of it was self-serving). I had seven -yes I know I said that number doesn't matter- and only half a reason wasn't self-centered?*

Mentoring, I've learned, is not about me (thanks Mom!). Its not about how I feel or what I'll gain from it. Its not about making me feel important or useful or letting me stay with FIRST. And most young kids who want to mentor say "because I liked FIRST and I want to stay in FIRST." Which has nothing to do with the students or their team, which is already the wrong reason to mentor.

*I am being honest and laying myself out here. I highly recommend you be brutally honest with yourself. Additionally, I don't want flack about being weak-willed or selfish because I didn't sugar coat my thoughts. We all have some ugly in us.

This is so accurate. Well said, Katie.

[a2alexa]

I would love some advice on this - I am a senior in high school with graduation right around the corner, and I am still working out college plans. At the same time, I do not want to fall out of the FIRST community during college, as joining was the best thing ever to happen to me. I wouldn't know what I want my future to look like if I had never joined FIRST. It's incredibly important to me to stay actively involved, but I have come to the realisation that I need some help and advice on how best to do this while still working and getting through school with decent marks, without completely working myself to death.

[Maldridge422]

I mentor a team at UVA, and it definitely takes a lot of time. A good alternative to directly mentoring is staying in contact with your old team or volunteering at events. Feel free to PM me about how to reach a good balance between mentoring and studying, especially if you'll be in Charlottesville next year!

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by a2alexa

I would love some advice on this - I am a senior in high school with graduation right around the corner, and I am still working out college plans. At the same time, I do not want to fall out of the FIRST community during college, as joining was the best thing ever to happen to me. I wouldn't know what I want my future to look like if I had never joined FIRST. It's incredibly important to me to stay actively involved, but I have come to the realisation that I need some help and advice on how best to do this while still working and getting through school with decent marks, without completely working myself to death.

Find a geographically convenient event that's during your spring break and volunteer. That gets you a couple of days of immersion, but doesn't eat up so much time it affects your grades.

In your free time, you can follow the season here, but I'd advise against mentoring a team as a college freshman outside of school breaks. If the end of your winter break is suitably timed, you might be able to do kickoff and perhaps week 1 with a team before going back to school.

Once you've got your feet under you, you could consider doing more, but take it easy the first year.

[Shrub]

Originally Posted by a2alexa

I would love some advice on this - I am a senior in high school with graduation right around the corner, and I am still working out college plans. At the same time, I do not want to fall out of the FIRST community during college, as joining was the best thing ever to happen to me. I wouldn't know what I want my future to look like if I had never joined FIRST. It's incredibly important to me to stay actively involved, but I have come to the realisation that I need some help and advice on how best to do this while still working and getting through school with decent marks, without completely working myself to death.

Volunteering! Even if FRC mainly has events spring semester, there are hopefully opportunities in your area to volunteer for FTC/FLL/FLLjr events and the like. No matter what you do, don't forsake homework for robots. I'm here for advice!

[Ginger Power]

My situation may be a unique case, but I don't think it has to be. When I graduated and moved on to college I founded a university level robotics team called Bison Robotics. The organization is made up of FIRST alum as well as people who regret not doing FIRST in high school.

Within Bison Robotics we participate in collegiate robotics competitions, as well as mentor/volunteer within FIRST. This year we've had 35 different members volunteer at at least 1 FRC event. As the person coordinating all of them (in correspondence with Minnesota's Volunteer Coordinator) I can say that there are little to no regrets on the part of the volunteers. They love it.

Part of the reason we're able to volunteer is because we have a semi-established organization that allows students to be excused from their classes. We also build in support for students who miss class by working together, and learning from each other.

A lesser number of us work with FRC teams (usually the team we graduated from) during the build season. It's a lot to manage, but nothing that a dedicated FIRST alum can't handle. As one of the people who does mentor from Bison Robotics, I can say that it has been a massively positive experience.

Bison Robotics also participates in Ri3D which is another incredibly fun event. It really keeps you connected with the FIRST community, and your efforts inspire thousands. It's a really cool thing to be a part of.

As I said, my situation may be unique, but it definitely doesn't have to be. If you're going to a university that has no robotics organization, I reccomend starting one. I am more than willing to help. Starting Bison Robotics was the greatest decision of my life and I have no regrets.

*disclaimer: When we have a student who signs up to volunteer, and they come to the realization that it's too much, it's not a big deal at all. Being responsible and letting the volunteer coordinator know the situation asap is critical.

[a2alexa]

Originally Posted by Maldridge422

I mentor a team at UVA, and it definitely takes a lot of time. A good alternative to directly mentoring is staying in contact with your old team or volunteering at events. Feel free to PM me about how to reach a good balance between mentoring and studying, especially if you'll be in Charlottesville next year!

Chances are, I will either be in Roanoke attending community college to transfer to Virginia Tech (don't hate me? ) or, if I am accepted, I may go straight into Virginia Tech. I've been recently working out some personal issues that have been affecting my school, and I'm still trying to decide what I would prefer to do.

There is a good chance/rumoured confirmation that my high school will be starting an FRC team. It's kind of a complicated situation with that, but to nutshell it, I moved away from my old FRC team last March and the only FIRST team in and reasonably close to Roanoke was an FTC team, so I joined that.

If my school starts a team, I definitely want to help them get on their feet, but, again, I will need help managing the schedule. I have a bad habit of overestimating my abilities and burning myself out. Any advice with my college plan would also be greatly appreciated.

I have been considering possibly helping with the team as a FIRST Alumni, without being a completely devoted mentor. Would that be unreasonable?

Thanks for the help.

[a2alexa]

Originally Posted by Shrub

Volunteering! Even if FRC mainly has events spring semester, there are hopefully opportunities in your area to volunteer for FTC/FLL/FLLjr events and the like. No matter what you do, don't forsake homework for robots. I'm here for advice!

Volunteering definitely sounds like a wise option. I do want to stay at least somewhat involved with a team in my area, wherever I end up going to college - I just wonder if there's a good way to do that without actually mentoring.

Thank you much for the reply and help.

[a2alexa]

Originally Posted by vhcook

Find a geographically convenient event that's during your spring break and volunteer. That gets you a couple of days of immersion, but doesn't eat up so much time it affects your grades.

In your free time, you can follow the season here, but I'd advise against mentoring a team as a college freshman outside of school breaks. If the end of your winter break is suitably timed, you might be able to do kickoff and perhaps week 1 with a team before going back to school.

Once you've got your feet under you, you could consider doing more, but take it easy the first year.

Seems legit. I would definitely not want to miss kickoff - even not being on an FRC team this year, I watched the kickoff the day it aired, and I've been watching lots of regional events via live stream. What's important to me is to have some level of FIRST involvement (preferably outside of just watching online), because even after the first couple of weeks into my first year, I knew that I would be in this program and related professions for a very long time. Being away from it for too long isn't good for my sanity.

Thanks so much for the great advice.

[Maldridge422]

Originally Posted by a2alexa

Chances are, I will either be in Roanoke attending community college to transfer to Virginia Tech (don't hate me? ) or, if I am accepted, I may go straight into Virginia Tech. I've been recently working out some personal issues that have been affecting my school, and I'm still trying to decide what I would prefer to do.

There is a good chance/rumoured confirmation that my high school will be starting an FRC team. It's kind of a complicated situation with that, but to nutshell it, I moved away from my old FRC team last March and the only FIRST team in and reasonably close to Roanoke was an FTC team, so I joined that.

If my school starts a team, I definitely want to help them get on their feet, but, again, I will need help managing the schedule. I have a bad habit of overestimating my abilities and burning myself out. Any advice with my college plan would also be greatly appreciated.

I have been considering possibly helping with the team as a FIRST Alumni, without being a completely devoted mentor. Would that be unreasonable?

Thanks for the help.

Southwest Virginia is a great area, and it has its own district event now!

If your school ends up starting a team, I'd suggest you act more as an alumni adviser instead of somebody leading it up, at least until you're more certain on how much free time you'll have. I've definitely been able to be more involved with 619 this year than I was last year now that I'm more settled in here.

[dradel]

Virginia Tech sponsors/mentors a team right in Blacksburg VA

GO HOKIES !!!!!

[a2alexa]

Originally Posted by Maldridge422

Southwest Virginia is a great area, and it has its own district event now!

If your school ends up starting a team, I'd suggest you act more as an alumni adviser instead of somebody leading it up, at least until you're more certain on how much free time you'll have. I've definitely been able to be more involved with 619 this year than I was last year now that I'm more settled in here.

Yes, I know about the district! I actually was able to go this past weekend, and man, I had a blast. My old Governators team 3361 was there.

Again, I'm still working out college plans. It's going to depend largely on how things go between now and graduation, and of course whether or not I get accepted to attend VT. Even if I do, I may still choose to go to a community college - the one in my area has a great system where graduates from my county get free tuition, and they have a guaranteed admission to Virginia public universities program. (Did that sentence make sense? I think it did.) I would end up doing their guaranteed admission to Tech program and transfer to VT for my junior year.

[dradel]

My son goes to VT, and loves it there. His course load doesn't allow him much in the way of free time, (vtcc) but did mentor on 4557 the first few days of this year before heading back to tech.

[a2alexa]

Originally Posted by dradel

My son goes to VT, and loves it there. His course load doesn't allow him much in the way of free time, (vtcc) but did mentor on 4557 the first few days of this year before heading back to tech.

A general summary of the advice I'm getting seems to be to spend some free time I may have with a team/volunteering, - basically spend it with FIRST in some way, after prioritising classes and other obligations. It sounds like a pretty good plan. Of course still vastly in the works, as Murphy's Law tends to hold true in every situation that you don't want it to.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

If I could share my experiences for those that are thinking about it, I would advise against mentoring the team you were a student on. You will not be viewed as a mentor by your peers (neither the hs students or the other mentors) and will honestly not have the impact that you would have in another team. Everyone will know you as one of the team-members, and will continue to treat you as such.

I'd also recommend taking a year off to get started in the right direction, but if you must mentor, pick a new, local team that you have no prior affiliation with. If you want to go back to your old team once most of the students have cycled through, that should be fine.