Why do teams voluntarily do FIRST without adult technical mentors?

[Jack Jones]

We need to talk. …
Sometimes, this is the big white elephant in the corner that everyone wants to ignore...

I agree Andy. We need to talk about it because it’s more like an 800-pound gorilla sitting there waiting to tear a team apart, or at least to take all the fun out of it.

I also agree with Cory that, “the only thing that will be agreed on is ‘to each their own’”

So, here’s “my own” thoughts as to what this engineering mentor expects to give and gain from the FIRST experience.

For me it’s all defined by the FIRST acronym, with the key words being “Inspiration” and “Recognition”. Many here have stated that it’s all about inspiration. For me, however, it’s more recognition. I want the kids to learn something about what it takes to become an engineer. For them to recognize that they can’t wish, nor boast, nor suppose they know what it takes. I want them to show me they have the aptitude. I want them to know that on their first day, in their first engineering class, they can look to the person on either side and be assured that only one will still be sitting there on the last day of the term. I want them to know that on their first day on the job they will not be asked to form a group with all the other interns and then take a vote on the day’s engineering decisions. I want them to know that I’m not there to entertain them, or to raise their self-esteem, or to let them think for one minute that I can quietly sit back and watch them bollix things up. I want the kids I work with to be the ones who survive that first term and go on to become “real” engineers. On the other hand, I want the ones who twiddle their thumbs to go into something else. So, what I expect to give and gain are one in the same. That is to advance the state of my profession.

If the students, teachers, and parents already know what I’ve learned, then they don’t need me. If they just want someone to find sponsors, buy materials, arrange shop time, or put band-aid fixes on a job not well done, then I don’t need them.

I’d just like to add, before you all begin to take pity on Birmingham-Groves, that this year I was like the Maytag repairman. I never touched the electronics or the programming. I seldom visited the pits and never coached a lick. But that’s only because I had complete confidence in the machine, the plan, the kids, the teachers, and the parents; anything less and I would not been able to keep myself from taunting that 800-pound gorilla.

In my opinion, the right mix of student, mentor, and engineer involvement is when everyone gives it 100%.