Did you know that the second highest topic of concern to FRC teams is recruiting and retaining mentors? Every year FRC teams fall by the wayside because of a lack of mentors…
January is National Mentoring Month and January 25, 2006 marks the 3rd annual Thank Your Mentor day.
The mentors who work with you on your teams are giving up time with their families, spending money out of their own pockets and giving up vacation days to travel to competitions with you, but they do it because they see the value of the FIRST program.
This month, at some point during the busy Build season, take some time off from reading ChiefDelphi and write a thank you note to each of the mentors on your team. Better yet, at your next meeting, shake their hand, look them in the eye, and let them know how they have impacted your life. Gather your teammates and plan a special potluck dinner on January 25. Write a Letter to the Editor of your local paper thanking your mentors. Vow to become a mentor yourself someday so you can “pay it forward.”
Wed. January 25, 2006 is national “Thank Your Mentor Day.”
This is a wonderful opportunity for teams to give their mentors special thanks and to publicize the work their mentors do.
Remember your technical mentors such as the engineers and machinists, and your non-engineering mentors, such as your teachers, parents, college students and other adults who help your team. Tell your community how important your mentors are to your team.
There were 45,000 mentors and volunteers involved in FIRST last year. We have a lot to be thankful for.
Some ideas:
• contact your local newspaper for a story about your mentors and your team
• contact your local TV station for a story about your mentors and your team
• PA announcements at your school.
• Send an e-card through www.whomentoredyou.org
• have an open house
• write a thank you note
Since we didn’t have a team meeting tonight, I would like to thank all the mentors of Team 228 for all their effort and hard work! Without them, our team would not be what it is today! If it were not for our mentors, we would not have the great mechanical engineer and the great physics teacher and the great electrical engineer and the great machinist and all our other great mentors that we have. If it were not for our mentors, all their immanse knowledge of mechanical design and electronics and computer animation and everything could never be ascertained without them.
If it were not for our mentors, we would be stumbling in the dark. If it were not for our mentors, our robot would have never reached the top ten to fifteen percent in the rankings as it did last year. If it were not for our mentors, our students would not become inspired. If it were not for our mentors, the “I” of FIRST would never happen. And if it were not for Ben (our mechanical engineer), I probably would have never joined CD eleven months ago. (Yes, I have only been a member of ChiefDelphi for about eleven months!)
For all their hard work and dedication, I’d like to thank all the mentors of Gus Team 228!
I would also like to take the time to thank all the “Team 0000” mentors. Most people have no idea about the actual amount of effort that goes into getting things done behind the scenes in FIRST. A great example would be planning regionals. The three days that you see is barely a drop in the bucket of the man hours it takes to run one of these events. I’d like to offer many thanks to all the 'teamless" FIRST mentors and volunteers out there!
