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

[Citrus Dad]

As a general comment, I believe college students should always pick a non-academic activity to get involved in at school. It is the best way to meet others and be able to become more well rounded. FIRST is a good activity, especially if you can recruit other students to join you. Be sure however to decide what you can commit to. Remember that you don't need to be "all in" to still be helpful to a team. And even more importantly remember that you are no longer "doing" but rather "advising" or some flavor of that. That said, when I hear someone suggest dropping out entirely to focus solely on academics, I strongly object and feel that they don't have a truly realistic view of what you can do in college. This may be one of the most memorable periods of your life so enjoy it as best you can.

[Electronica1]

Originally Posted by a2alexa

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.

I am at VT right now and spend the end of my winter break and my spring break mentoring 1086. If you are careful to balance it, you can mentor and still keep up a strong GPA. You can also mentor 401, which is offered as a class for mechanical engineers but I believe you can also mentor without going through the class. The key is that you budget your time and keep classes number one priority.

[Knufire]

As someone who is a current junior in college, and spent the first 2.5 years starting and running an FRC team, I'd recommend against it. FRC will be there when you graduate. There are so, so many things that won't be. Take college to experience the things that you will only have a chance to experience while you're in college.

[dradel]

Originally Posted by 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.

Our team feared this happening, and for returning alum that are wanting to mentor we started a mentor group that we called mini me's.
That is they are shadowing the mentor in whatever mentor subset they want to perhaps move forward in, wether that be programming, business, build/design.
We are still a young team and have gotten our first few alum back this year. The hope is to keep the interest, and involvement in first but without all the pressure of being a full on mentor.
Plus let's face it there is a learning curve to being a mentor. I know I am still learning

[kristinweiss]

My advice as a college mentor is to take a semester or two off from FIRST and learn how to manage your time in college. It is ok to volunteer and attend kickoff and competitions, but take some time to get your college routine under control. After a semester or two, if, and only if you feel as if you can manage your time mentoring a team and maintain your academics, start introducing yourself back into FRC. Personally, I started doing this by only attending meetings once every other week and doing most of my mentoring remotely via skype and giving feedback on documents posted to our team drive. Once you have mastered balancing this type of commitment, you can consider becoming more active as a mentor. As a second year now, I meet with my team once or twice a week and communicate with them almost daily on things that can be worked on remotely. The one thing that you have to keep in mind though, is that school should always come first! It is ok to miss a meeting if you have a big exam to study for or need to catch up on homework.

With all this being said though, I think that college mentors can be some of the most valuable mentors a team can have. College FRC alumni know how to relate with the students on the team because they have been in their shoes, and also have the experience to guide a team to success. Another added bonus is that college students don't really know what sleep is, so they can be at the shop during the late build nights when all the adults want to go and sleep. I know personally, there have been several occasions when my kids needed an adult at the shop because none of the parents could come, and I was able to sit at the shop on my laptop working on schoolwork while they worked on the robot.

In summary, mentoring in college is incredibly rewarding but focus on yourself and getting adjusted to college before jumping back into FIRST. You probably will never be able to give the same time commitment you did while you were a team member in high school, but you can most definitely still make an impact on the team.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

April,
I hope you can find an answer in all the responses. Let me talk as a senior mentor and parent for a little while. You have some issues that you need to prioritize. School and family come way before FIRST and other fun items. Take care of the important items first. You will be a great mentor if you can get your life straight and get the education you want to get. Then come back to FIRST when and if you can. Let it be a reward for your hard work at school. In your area, you could easily volunteer for a simple position if you can take time away from your studies. As you get your life organized, you might be able to take on more roles like mentoring a team or working with FLL. However, we all want you to develop the skills you need for the rest or your life. Don't let FIRST get in the way of life. Let FIRST be an extension of your life when you are able. It will be better for you and for the people you will work with. I would rather not see you for four or five years and know that your are being successful at school then to see you at every event and know you are struggling.

[Joe Matt]

Long time no post fam.

Hope all is well with yours. I've been going through a lot of changes and challenges, but nothing that I haven't been prepared for.

Which leads me to my point I like to remind people of: try expanding outside of FIRST in college. FIRST has set me up for some amazing things in my life, and those things have lead to even bigger and better things. Build upon what you have and move on. Come back when you are ready. Come back when there's something new to add.

The magician Brian Brushwood posted a great story in 2009 of him talking to Teller of Penn & Teller in how to advance in the world of magic. Teller said this:

Have heroes outside of magic. Mine are Hitchcock, Poe, Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Bach. You're welcome to borrow them, but you must learn to love them yourself for your own reasons. Then they'll push you in the right direction.

I return to that story, and that quote, many times. Replace 'magic' with FIRST.

I came back to this topic and CD today for two reasons: some jerk named Conor Ryan posted something FIRST related on FB and I saw it. I was in Conor's wedding last year. And every day for the past decade I've talked daily to this thread's creator, DJ Fluck, someone I consider one of my closest and best friends.

Last summer I took over chapter advisor duties for the Phi Kappa Psi colony at Kent State University. I wouldn't be in this position of molding young men and helping change that university if it wasn't for FIRST. Yet I also wouldn't have their respect, brotherhood, and love if I didn't leave FIRST. Yet I took six years between my graduating Dayton and mentoring a chapter; you do need time off.

Please consider my advice. FIRST won't leave. I love everything I received from FIRST and everything I accomplished after I left. Please don't limit yourselves.

[JStein]

Originally Posted by a2alexa

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.

I definitely agree with prioritizing classes first, and I will expand on my view. The world's largest companies (all that I applied to, at least) generally hire from the top 25% of grads from universities, which means that a very large percentage of students graduating with engineering degrees don't actually qualify to work at some of the most sought-after positions available to new grads. Basically, Cs might get degrees... but they don't necessarily get you a job.

With regards to mentoring FIRST, I want to emphasize that I thoroughly enjoy mentoring my kids' FLL team and for FRC, but I don't really see college as a time to mentor - it's a time to learn. From my perspective, college presents [STEM] students with amazing opportunities to learn through projects that require them to grow as engineers and individuals, and that FIRST programs are a stepping stone to. Specific programs that I remember from college (most are still around) include: SAE Formula, SAE Baja, Bridge Building, Solar Decathalon, Solar Car, 1/4 Scale Tractor and 'High efficiency vehicle challenge'. I will reiterate... These are amazing opportunities that I would pick over FIRST mentoring in a heartbeat [while in college].

I personally benefitted from 4+ years on a Solar Car team, during which I put in 4,000+ hours learning and building, made 2/3 of my lifelong friends, consumed 1,200 gal of Mtn Dew (I wish I was joking), and made the connections that led to me being able to pick which job I wanted to take when I graduated. Not to mention... it is where I developed the skills that are worth mentoring others on. I would highly recommend this path to anyone!

-Justin
Playing With Fusion, Inc