What Is the Global Mentorship Program?

The Global Mentorship Program is an international initiative built to bridge the gap between experienced and rookie FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams. Designed to make peer-to-peer guidance accessible worldwide, the program matches teams based on their technical needs, language, and availability to ensure no rookie team has to navigate their season alone. By connecting sustainable veteran teams with brand-new programs, we help valuable engineering and organizational knowledge cross geographical boundaries.

The Problem We Are Solving

Rookie teams face a steep learning curve when entering the FIRST Tech Challenge. Beyond building a working robot, new teams frequently struggle to develop fundamental technical skills, secure necessary fundraising, and navigate complex logistical requirements like official registrations and tournament structures.

While hands-on mentorship is a critical component for helping new teams adapt, a large portion of rookie teams lack direct connections to veteran teams or local industry mentors. At the same time, many experienced veteran teams have valuable knowledge to share and want to expand their community outreach, but they struggle to find or connect with the specific rookie teams that need their help the most.

Our Impact by the Numbers

By actively recruiting teams through successive competition seasons—including Decode and Into the Deep—our mentorship framework has scaled into a global network:

• Connected 184 experienced and new teams through our rookie mentorship program.

• Established a member footprint spanning 6 continents.

• Supported local growth across 24 U.S. states.

How It Works

Our system simplifies the onboarding and matching process to ensure highly compatible pairings between rookie and veteran groups:

• Rookie Teams Apply: Mentees complete a form application where they specify the exact areas they need help with and how frequently they want to meet.

• Veteran Teams Apply: Mentors fill out a separate Google Form detailing their areas of technical or organizational proficiency and their scheduling availability.

• Matching & Introduction: Our team reviews the incoming applications, pairs the teams according to their mutual specifications, and introduces them via email with their partnership details.

• The FirstConnected Platform: To build a simpler interface for managing applications and matching, we recently partnered with recruited FTC team FireWires #12041 to develop a custom domain at firstconnected.org.

Get Involved

• Request a Mentor: If your team is new to FTC and wants help navigating technical skills, fundraising, or competition logistics, submit a mentee application.

• Become a Mentor Team: If your veteran team wants to expand its outreach and share your competitive knowledge, apply to be paired with a rookie team.

• Visit Our Platform: Head to firstconnected.org to access our centralized application forms, check pairing updates, and connect with the global FTC community.