Has anyone come up with an easy (and not awkward) way to make sure judges and other teams alike know you’re a mentor? I make fun of it a lot with my friends and whatnot how I get asked if I’m a freshman (for reference I’m only 5 feet tall), but I’d like to be a lot more professional when having to bring it up in other situations.
The main example I’m drawing from here is that another mentor and I (who are in first/second year university) were in the pits with one of our students at worlds and we got called out for hiding from the judges when they came around. I then had to stumble my way though something that communicated that despite being the shortest person on the team, that I wasn’t a student. It’s also happened extensively when talking strategy, being the mentor to sit in in the CA room, etc… I thought at worlds it would be better with the FIRST Alum badge, but I guess that wasn’t big enough of a sign.
Aside from putting it on team branding, does anyone in the CD universe have any other ideas on how to communicate this? I’d like to keep it so all of us 4476 people look like a team rather than divided by mentors/students but am unsure of how otherwise to do that. Maybe just a better way to say it would be neat too.
Seriously though, this is an issue that many 20-something mentors face. Not sure if there’s a surefire solution. Even having differentiated uniforms between students and mentors doesn’t seem to always solve the issue.
1425 has electronic nametags that show their name and what they do, along with some cheers for the team, just strobing around all day. Its pretty cool and at the speed they have it at its easy and quick to read.
Many teams, including mine have mentors wear polos that are clearly “nicer” than the average polo. We are pretty strict with this all mentors ALWAYS wear this same shirt.
Then the kids on the team wear either a hoodie or the team t-shirt depending on what they want.
Being from Ontario you’ll notice alot of 2056 alum wear hats that clearly say alumni on it. Obviously I’m not 100% sure but I would bet it’s safe to assume it’s for the same reason that you are describing.
It definitely doesn’t always solve the problem. On our team, mentors wear blue shirts with our logo in pink, while students pink shirts with the logo in blue. Yet in multiple years I’ve been asked “who’s the pregnant student on your team?” In reference to a mentor.
A few years ago, we got mentor polo’s - blue polo’s with the logo on them and the text “MENTOR” underneath. I think it helps differentiate, and makes it easier for others to see you’re a mentor.
What I usually do is if a judge approaches me and asks to talk, I say something like “Sure, let me get a student for you”. I’m sure there’s a better way to do it, but so far so good
Last year the mentors on my team got shirts that say mentor on the back. This year, we didn’t get them and just got the same shirts as the students. If I don’t wear my mentor shirt, I’m in the same boat (I’m about 5’2 and shorter than most of my students). I’ll be pushing to get mentors shirts again next year, and I think that’s a pretty easy thing your team can do too.
I will say that as an inspector on Carver this year I made the same mistake with the mentor from a certain Australian team. If she is reading this, I’m sorry.
edit: If you registered as a mentor through on FIRST’s website you should get a mentor pin in the mail. I try to make sure that I wear mine somewhere visible (usually right at the top collar of my shirt) which theoretically also helps.
Sorry, but there is no way to discriminate between an 18 year old high school student who is a team member and an 18 year old college student who is a mentor. Even some 22 year old mentors can look younger than some 18 year old students. You can try uniforms or name tags… they won’t hurt… but they also won’t be standard for all teams so judges and volunteers really can’t be expected to tell the difference the first time they meet you. (Or necessarily remember it the third time they meet you.)
But there is no reason you need to stumble on an explanation, “Thanks (or, Canadian version, “Sorry for the confusion…”) , but I’m no longer a team member. I graduated X years ago and am now a mentor. It’s been a really great way to stay involved with the team and help the students have the kind of experience that I found so amazing when I was in high school.”
The thing is that by the time you get used to saying that there will be something that has changed… usually I notice it in the eyes, or the way a person carries themselves… and you won’t need a uniform or name tag to say that you aren’t a student.
Hang in there… by the time you’re 50 you’re going to be missing the days when you got “carded” and were mistaken for a student.
A pretty easy way to do it is to have mentor/coaches uniforms be slightly different than the students uniforms. Things like having an alternate color scheme or different headgear can do the trick pretty well.
A student on another team confused me for a student for all of one regional and about 80% of another. Two mentors on a couple teams confused each other for students an entire regional that they won together. I think I’m one of the shortest on 340 (thankfully not 5254… :rolleyes: ).
I don’t have a solution, but at least I’m not alone. I nearly had to show ID in a mentor lounge last year.
There’s no good solution to this issue. Even in my 8th year as a mentor I still get questioned regarding my age when I go up to Pit Admin. Even with “Mentor” on my shirt.
I was often mistaken for a student when I was in my twenties by both judges and by students on other teams. When it becomes apparent that someone is interested in speaking with a student, I’ll say something like, “Let me find someone for you to speak with.” That usually got the message across.
I find, broadly, that I have to signal my role on the team somewhat often while at competition, whether because someone assumes I’m a student or because they assume I can’t speak knowledgeably about the robot or strategy or other, similar things. It’s just become a fact of life.
