Mentor Roles

[Aaron Ng]

I see a lot of people here talking about a student built vs mentor built robot. And it is understandable why many people have strong opinions on the matter on both sides. I for one believe that FIRST is a educational program made to inspire kids to explore STEM fields. Whether they find inspiration building a robot, or having someone else build it for them, does not matter, and will change on a team to team basis.

The feeling that i get from your post is that your team is primarily student ran. If that is the case, my two cents is it is important to step back, and let the students design and build the robot just as they always have been. Tell them your ideas for sure, but if they are adamant about going the other way, then the best thing you can do is to try and help them as best you can. Forcing the team to go in another direction will do nothing but cause unnecessary tension.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Something not mentioned yet in this thread is that because every team has a unique team culture, not every mentor will fit comfortably in every team. My former teams and my current team follow distinctly different season philosophies and that's ok.

If you feel like you have something to offer and you are not being listened to, talk to team leadership about how you feel. The worst thing you can do is not tell other people on the team how you feel. If they are not receptive to your feeling, this offseason might be the time to look for a new team that more closely fits you build philosophies.

There are dozens of teams in your state that could use your help. Don't feel pigeon-holed into one team.