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

[RaMoore]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

This deserves a bump, and frankly, I think no freshman in college should mentor a team at all. Do something different, try new things, get away from FIRST. There aren't many things I believe in, but this is one of them I do 100%.

So here is a question: What about college freshmen that have never heard of FIRST before; should they also be given the same advice?

As with everything there are two sides to this argument, but I think that they have more to gain from their early college involvement and less at risk of being over involved than a just graduated FIRSTer.

Speaking from firsthand experience college freshman also have less to contribute to the mentoring efforts (in the short term) and being so close in age to the HS students can create other difficulties. However college seniors with no FIRST experience also seem to pose the exact same issues and they won't be around to be grow into helpful mentors for the next season.