Mentor Roles

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

I'm fairly confident this statement does not hold up.

Some students are bent against not working with mentors. Depending on the team's philosophy and what role mentors play, this may mean the student chooses to leave. I don't think that is "un-FIRST".

-Mike

As quoted earlier in the thread, the FIRST mission statement says:

The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting Mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

The mission is to inspire through a mentor based program. Forcing someone out because the mentors can't find a way to work with them does not fall anywhere near that mission. It means the mentors failed to engage with that student. They failed to inspire that student. In short, they failed the whole point of the program with regards to that student.

I've known students to discover, through the program, that their passion lies elsewhere and leave to follow that passion. There's nothing wrong with that. But to have them leave because a mentor can't get along with them? The should never happen.