The year after the rookie year

[nlknauss]

Originally Posted by eagle33199

I just wanted to highlight this, as it's an excellent suggestion (and something my team does every year). One thing to keep in mind, however, if the different perspective people will have. It's important to have separate mentor- and student-only discussions, and to have separate discussions within each subteam. As a mentor, every year I have to remind myself that, while we do the best that we can, we make mistakes, and the students may not feel comfortable telling us directly what we did wrong. By letting them have their own group meeting where everything is recorded (with no names next to anything!), it gives them a way to give us that feedback as well.

And I wanted to highlight this!

Certainly establishing a communication/feedback loop is something that is extremely important for teams as they wish to grow and become more successful. Some teams do this by establishing student leadership, others by just developing open communication skills as described above.

On my team, we collect the student data, the mentors try to group it as best we can (usually there are some common trends), and then show the students what they all said as a collective group. The mentors meet to discuss how we can work with the students through these trends and develop some kind of plan. It's all about the plan!

Jane is dishing some good advice above. Yes, when compared to some of the first year accolades a team can receive the second year can sort of seem like a "sophomore slump". From what I've been through with this past year being my team's second year, it is helpful to establish some attainable goals that you can always hang your hat on.

Also remember, if things aren't always going to plan you can always revisit and revise your goals. There is no problem with this. If for some reason your team finds yourself not having fun, take a step back and look at what is happening as a group. FIRST may be a lot of work, but it is not work (a job).

Nate