Mentors

Everything you need to know about being a Mentor for the ESHS P.O.T.A.T.O.E.S.

You don't need to have a STEM background to be a mentor!

Mentors for the ESHS Robotics club do more than just advise on engineering robots. There are plenty of other ways you can help:

1. Can you deal with conflicts?
   For many of our students, FRC represents their first formal engineering experience. Strong opinions can often lead to tension. Any mentor patient enough to hear both sides out and come to an amicable resolution will be a valuable asset to the club.
2. Are you organized?
   One of our biggest challenges is getting the students to stick to one plan and make incremental progress—in other words, project management. Students can benefit from seeing how a goal-oriented mentor allocates resources, how they organize and prioritize work, and how they deal with FRC's tight build season deadlines.
3. Can you cook or supply food?
   You can help the FRC team by hosting meals during build season and during competition.
4. Can you drive?
   You can help us to transport people and equipment. Larger and more spacious vehicles like minivans are especially valuable for transporting the students' finished robots.
5. Can you make phone calls?
   The club is always on the lookout for new sponsors. If you know an organization that might be interested in having their logo displayed prominently on a student-built robot, we'd love to talk to you.
6. Can you breathe?
   In order to keep the robotics lab open after school hours, it needs to be under the watchful eye of a teacher or adult mentor. Having a list of willing chaperones is also important for other activities the club partakes in.

District Approval Process

To ensure the safety of our students the El Segundo Unified School District has a standardized process which all mentors must undergo in order to volunteer on the ESHS campus (including parents). Once you go through the approval process you will be cleared to volunteer across the entire District.

Getting Started

Set up a meeting with Shantai Turner from the District to initiate the approval process. She will provide you with the paperwork that needs to be signed and will answer any questions that you may have about the process. She will also provide you with the form you need to provide to the finger printing service.

TB test

Cost for the TB test may vary, but it may be covered by your insurance. You may take the TB test with your own personal physician or at any walk in clinic, such as a CVS minute clinic which administers the test for $30. The TB test is a 2 step process, typically the TB Skin Test is administered one day and then you must go back within 48-72 hours to get screened for the results. If the skin test is inconclusive you may have to take a chest X-ray to get cleared. Send a copy of the results back to Shantai Turner.

Fingerprinting

Live Scan Fingerprinting services are available at the El Segundo Police Department for $30(cash only) and the UPS Store on Main St for $20. You must supply them with the form given to you by Mrs. Turner so that the results can be sent back to the district.

Online training

All district approved mentors must go through on online training course to get cleared. The training course is a few hours long but you can complete it over time and pick up where you last left off.