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

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

That's definitely true, but to really get anywhere in some instances, you probably need to scrape up the money to get your Master's or your Ph.D. (I don't know what the situation for Bioengineering majors will be.)

I have not posted anything recently, but I will post about this. My alma mater team has offered me a mentorship position. The advisor is probably asking me the same thing. But I have to tell him and those who want me to mentor--I'm in college right now. I don't know when or if I'll come back because my academics take full priority. I don't know my current transcript, but based on my assignments so far, I think I'm doing pretty well.

I'm ironically on an engineering project with another FIRST alum (from Team 007) and we both are taking our experiences to the project. But it seems like everyone else is on our page (which means either other FIRST alumni or people who are just that way). Apparently all the squabbling and disorganization that typified my team's activities seem to be gone (but we aren't at the storming phase yet.)

I am at a college that has been supportive of FIRST for a number of years. It once sponsored Team 53 before it collapsed (for any oldtimers, 53 was once a dominant team from nearby Greenbelt that suddenly seemed to fold last year.) I think the team was eventually switched from UM's MechE to a Gemstone team with not a lot of money to deal with.

I am not about to drive that hour drive right now to the team. I would see the regional on webcast and keep touch on the boards and give some advice, but Engineering takes so much time.

If you do mentor in college, do it somehow discreetly so that you can still do well and have a social life. If not, you should still stay in touch to pull the team through.

Steve Graff, University of Maryland c/o 2010