When do mentors go too far?

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by newton418

The team I am on (418, Purple Haze, LASA Robotics) is a team made up of students, one teacher (who is our coach), one mentor, one welder and a parents association. The parents association handles the money, provides transportation and leads the “frou crew,” which puts up flags and shiny things in the stands. Our teacher occupies himself with the paper work, making sure we have materials, dealing with the school and of course teaching his classes... Besides this the kids do everything.

Thank you for responding to my question. As you've stated, the students on your team do everything... related to the robot. So you have a very vested interest in that part of the team. I encourage your team to branch out next year and recruit students to get involved in the other aspects of the team. Get the student who excels in Math to help set up the budget; ask the school newspaper to recommend a student who can write well to help you with Public Relations; find someone who is interested in art to design your t-shirts and buttons and make your flags and shiny things... Encourage all team members to learn about the flip side to your organization. The goal of FIRST is to inspire students about science and technology but it doesn't say anything about limiting the inspiration to those students who naturally gravitate towards those subjects! Get the humanities students interested in science and technology and THEN we're accomplishing the goals of FIRST!