Mentorship Philosophy

[Rich Kressly]

I understand the coach comments, but all of my best coaches (sports, mostly) in life have been mentors. All of my mentors have not been coaches, though ... anyway back to the thread I want to read more from others here....

[Ken Patton]

John, I imagined you dropping your arm like the ref at a prize fight when you commanded us to "discuss"

Philosophy:
- convey the excitement and rewards of engineering by by trying to be a great engineer for the team
- try to set the bar high, because the best students will meet it
- try to support the students who are new and learning

Lessons:
- winning isn't everything - trying to win is the important thing
- by saying "we are trying to win" we are saying that we commit to preparing ourselves to win
- when we prepare ourselves to win, we must: be on time, support the team by doing our role, practice, work hard, and get good grades (A's not B's)
- if we have prepared ourselves to win .... we have won

- it may not be fair, but people who don't know you will judge you by your grades
- if you have below a 3.0, I can't hire you

- come back and see us so we can hear stories about what you have done

[Nikki Haux]

I would like to say that although I am not a mentor, I agree with all that has been said on this thread, particularly the parts about mentoring not being coaching. If all FIRST mentors and advisors followed this, students would get more out of the experience and teams as a whole would improve.