Mentor Respect

[Koko Ed]

You got to realize that teenagers more often than not are in their own world and are not going to fall over themselves in adulation of every adult who impacts thier lives (and there's alot from the parents, to the teachers to their advisors. This has been debated in our society for years). You got to remember were dealig with people in transistion from children to adults. It's a confusing frustratating and overwhelming time of their lives filled with alot of temptations and pressures from all sides. They're not prone to good decisions and they don't always appreciate everything that has been done to them. Chalk that up to immaturity. That's one great thing about FIRST is it actually teaches them alot of skills that go beyond technical skills. We actually have our kids have to communicate to other team members and speak before the team to reprot what their sub team had done that night. Our class valecdetorian (sp) from last year was part of my first animation team. She was a very smart and talented girl but she was also terribly shy. Over the years of being on the team she has grown alot as a person and I do think that being on FIRST has done alot for her. And thats our jobs as mentors to light the way for our kids. Our thanks does not have to come from their lips. It comes from the finished product that walks across the stage, gets their diploma and moves on to bigger and better things.