• Assisting the team in organising locations for meetings;
• Overseeing the initial development of the team, to ensure there is adequate leadership;
• Providing a 'voice of reason' - an experienced opinion that can stop them wasting time exploring dead-ends;
• Being their first source of feedback for their drafting and editing; &
• Acting as their representative in their dealings with the Competition, their school(s) and/or their parents.

Obviously, that seems quite an extensive list! It is, however, not as daunting a task as it first seems. Each team soon learns how to operate as a group, at which point the mentor becomes more of a 'guiding figure'. And there are significant benefits in becoming an ASDC mentor, including:

• The satisfaction of seeing your team develop as individuals, and as a team, during the course of the Competition;
• Exploring the problems and tasks the students face; a significant number of mentors seem to find the Competition as challenging and interesting as the students themselves!
• Networking between other mentors at the Finals round in Brisbane;
• Meeting a wide variety of professional engineers and industry figures, who take part in the Competition as advisors, Finals-round mentors, and judges;
• [For teachers] Providing a science-maths-engineering enrichment subject for students at your school;
• [For parents] Take an interest in your son or daughters interests and education!

An interesting insight into where our participants go once they leave high school! (Excerpt from ASDC presentation, dec 2008)

Do not be worried about taking on the role of an ASDC mentor. It is not an extensive committment (significantly less than as a sporting coach for example), and does not require any technical skill or industry experience. You do not need to be a rocket scientist! In fact the only things you need to become a successful ASDC mentor are:

• A free hour or two each week to read over drafts or sit through a team meeting;
• Enjoy working with and helping the students in the team;
• Be ready to try new things and experience the ASDC!

To assist new mentors, the Competition provides a Teacher Information Pack, which includes:

• The role of a mentor;
• How to brainstorm and research with your team;
• How to help your team compose a practical working timeline for their submission;
• An introduction into the ASDC and the ISSDC;
• Overview of the Request For Proposal (RFP), as well as a deconstructed section of a previous submission, to provide a clear example of what is required in a submission; &
• A hints and tips page to get you started!

Click here to download the ASDC Teacher Information Pack:

<Teacher Information Pack>