Why mentor?


Mentoring is fun!

Several of our mentors agree that guiding and encouraging the kids on this team is a rewarding and enjoyable experience. Mr. Bruce George, our lead mentor, has been associated with the team for six years and has been mentoring for almost as long.  “[I like] encouraging kids to find something that excites them and pushes them to show up regularly,” he says. He emphasizes that the team does not “hold kids here–they’re only here if they want to be.” For Mr. George, one of the best things about mentoring is seeing kids be enthusiastic. “Kickoff weekend is my favorite, seeing the kids motivated and ready to go,” he says.


Another mentor with a passion for teaching is Mr. Steve Christensen, who is entering his fourth year of encouraging students on our team. His favorite part about mentoring is “seeing the lights go on” when students understand something new, whether it be “technical knowledge” or about “learning how to use resources.” Enthusiastic about helping students “get out of their comfort zone” and “find something they love,” he is glad to teach young people about robotics, an area that will continue to grow in “importance in the future.” He is especially proud to encourage students to build appreciation for the other fields within the team–he wants them to learn to “connect the fields,” from mechanical and electrical engineering to programming and business. Mr. Christensen stresses that the various aspects of participating in a robotics team are “all so important; all sides” of it.

Our student mentor Nick Zumbo spent several years on the mechanical engineering subteam before graduating high school and returning to mentor on the same subteam. His motivation? “I love teaching,” he explains, adding that his favorite part about mentoring is “watching the expressions on students’ faces” when they understand something new, and then seeing them “use” the concept and “teach it” to other students. Whether through building friendships on the team, taking pleasure in seeing students’ enthusiasm, or sharing a passion for teaching, mentoring on team 2342 can be a genuinely enjoyable experience that draws many people back for more each year.

Mentors can learn just as much as students.



Mr. Johan Kruger, a new mentor on the software team, is also looking forward to learning from both mentors and students. He finds it interesting to watch students’ techniques for “approaching and solving” different types of problems.

In addition to what he learned as a student, Nick Zumbo has a long list of the things he’s learned as a mentor: “how to work better with people, how to better present concepts, [how to] make [something confusing] into an enjoyable learning experience, how to adapt to different learners …” “I had to learn much more [about the material] when mentoring, because you have to really know material to teach it,” he explains. He emphasizes that he has learned the power of “patience” and “being kind,” and that maintaining a healthy working relationship with light “banter” between students and mentors is a huge part of making robotics fun. Although mentors are the ones who officially provide guidance and advice, being a mentor is an educational experience just as much as being a student is.



As a student mentor, Mr. Zumbo remembers that some of his favorite mentors were not the ones who were overly involved in helping with projects, but the ones who simply provided companionship and ample constructive criticism. One of his mechanical engineering mentors left a particularly profound mark on him; Mr. Zumbo explains that “he let me make mistakes, forced me to take chances” and helped “me become confident with [mechanical engineering] tools, because I didn’t have too much help.” The mentor supported the students he mentored just by “show[ing] up” and keeping a friendly, “open relationship” between them.


Mentors get to watch students grow and accomplish their goals.



Mrs. Christensen, who is serving her first year as a mentor for the business subteam, says that “at the end of [her] oldest son’s first year, [she] was amazed at how much his self confidence had increased and how good he suddenly became at fixing things around the house. After observing the improvement, Mrs. Christensen remarked that “seeing that change in kids is exciting, [and] being a part of that change is even better.”
