Incorporating Alumni within FRC Teams

[Hot_Copper_Frog]

I've participated and been involved with teams that span the spectrum on this issue, from almost no young mentor involvement, to a middle ground, to entirely run by college students.

Currently, we employ a "Mentor Lite" system for young alumni that would like to return and mentor because they are attending college locally. If you are Mentor Lite, you may not drive or solely chaperone students, or act as a lead mentor for a sub-group. They work under the lead mentors for any given sub-group and act in a supporting role while they learn how to bridge the gap between student and mentor, which is hard to do. We generally discourage alumni from coming back their freshman year as FRC mentors, but utilize them heavily in the FLL and FTC programs that we run. We also encourage them to explore other teams and volunteer roles within FIRST.

Mentor Lite is promoted to regular mentor status when they've graduated from their program of choice (not necessarily a 4-year degree), have transitioned to adult life, and all the the students that they went to school with have graduated.