How far do you Travel to Mentor?

[Ginger Power]

As I'm finishing the 3 hour drive from Becker High School to North Dakota State University (it was 5 hours in a blizzard this time), I'm wondering how crazy I am. I drive 3 hours every single weekend during the build and competition seasons to mentor my team.

My question is, how far do you travel to mentor your team, and by extension how insane am I? The fact that I'm posting at 5 AM kind of answers the second part...

[Koko Ed]

I travel hundreds of miles to volunteer but our robotics site is only 13 miles from my home.

[Foster]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I travel hundreds of miles to volunteer but our robotics site is only 13 miles from my home.

First, I'd like to call BS on that line. You've been everywhere, so I think that it should be "I travel tens of hundreds of miles" or "many, many hundreds of miles" or "well over 1000 miles." Or there are some Koko Ed clones out there using your name.

I'm lucky, the three teams I'm working with are all within 5 miles of my house. On Wednesday I need to do two places, so that's a little longer. So all in all my weekly commute is less that three hours total.

As far as it goes with Ginger Power, how's the school work? What are you missing out as far as campus activities? Interaction with friends? I'm all for former team members coming back as mentors, but not at the expense of their University education and experience.

[jman4747]

~ 17 miles by car.

[MrForbes]

About ten miles to our school. About 25 to Bisbee, to help the new team there, but not every day.

It's the competitions that get me some miles behind the wheel....our visit to NYC this year is going to be quite a trip! The rest of the team is smart, so they're flying, but I offered to take the robot and stuff in my old Suburban. 25 hours of driving time each way.

[Mark McLeod]

My furthest team is about 2.5 hours round trip two or three times a week.
But I don't go during snow storms, since they close.

Event-wise I'll volunteer at five or so events, and my team will compete at a couple.
I'll see you in NYC


No matter how crazy we think we are, there's always somebody crazier.
Well maybe not Ed...

[EricH]

I've never checked the mileage, but I'm 20-30 minutes depending on route selection and traffic (and whether I start from home or work--work is longer).

Events... this year there are two that are about half an hour to an hour from home (volunteering at both) and another that's closer to two hours (volunteering there, too, but that's where a hotel comes in handy).

[MissDaisyGirl]

You're not crazy! We have 4 mentors who travel 2+ hours each weekend. Keep up the good work.

[Michael Hill]

About 25 minutes each way 5 days/week.

[Ty Tremblay]

I travel for work, so sometimes it's a flight from VA to NH, sometimes it's a 6 hour drive from NJ to NH, and sometimes it's a 2 hour drive from my actual home in MA to NH.

[IndySam]

I live about 3/4 of a mile from our school. Long drive.

[seg9585]

The main team I mentor is about 10 miles from home, or just 5 miles from work. I've been helping/advising about 5 other local teams this year (mostly rookies) ranging from ~5 miles away to as much as 25 miles. We have a high team density here in OC, but mileage sometimes doesn't represent time due to traffic of course (it can take an hour to get to the farthest team on bad days).

[JohnFogarty]

I drive 60 miles to mentor 4901, and then I drive 40 miles to mentor 5632.

Occasionally I help my original team 1102 and they are 15 miles away.

I-20 and I are very well aquainted.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by IndySam

I live about 3/4 of a mile from our school. Long drive.

I think I have you beat, I live about 1/4 mile from our lab about 3 mins when I drive it.

[Ginger Power]

Originally Posted by Foster

As far as it goes with Ginger Power, how's the school work? What are you missing out as far as campus activities? Interaction with friends? I'm all for former team members coming back as mentors, but not at the expense of their University education and experience.

- School is easy. Robots are hard but seriously my schedule right now is nothing to worry about. 15 credits and I'll end up with a good grade in all of my classes.

- I'd like to think I'm getting my fair share of campus activities. I founded Bison Robotics at NDSU which now has around 100 members. Managing that takes up a significant amount of time, and the people I've met through the team are incredible.

- Friends are pretty much covered by Bison Robotics. It's great not being the only FRC-crazy person in Fargo. There are plenty of awesome people here.

Sorry to make this post about myself! I just wanted to clarify that deciding to volunteer 3 hours away was a calculated decision, and one that I believe is reflecting on my life in a positive way. I may indeed be crazy, but there is a method to the madness!

Thanks for the responses on this thread. Very interesting to hear the habits of some of the best mentors in FIRST!