Team Mentors

The proven key to a BEST team's success in the competition is the role mentors play in shepherding the students through the six-week design and construction phase. Mentors don't have to be engineers, scientists, or technical professionals. However, they should possess technical skills in working with power tools, and some understanding of basic physics would be helpful, as well.

Generally, two-plus mentors are needed per team, but this is not a regulation. Obviously, the more mentors helping, the less "ground" any single mentor has to cover.

You don’t have to have a school connection! When you sign-up through us, we’ll introduce you to your teacher(s) and they’ll get you started.

Teacher-Mentor Workshop

We provide a comprehensive day-long Teacher-Mentor Training Workshop for folks that are new to mentoring a team. You’ll work side-by-side with your new BEST teacher to learn how to organize and run a successful team.

So, How Do You Start?

1. Review our Mentor Recruitment packet for clarification on what mentoring is
   (and isn’t) as well as the time commitment involved.
2. Look at the menu on the home page for the list of participating Alabama BEST schools and select one you’d like to work with.
3. Contact Dr. George Blanks at 334.844.5759 or blankgw@eng.auburn.edu to sign-up.