Mentoring, or creating an army of minions

Posted on Nov 13, 2009 in Volunteering, Web Dev | 0 comments

UPDATE: It’s now almost June and both students’ projects are complete, at least insofar as a web project is ever truly “complete.” Working with two students on web projects was interesting, as it allowed me to observe differences in how they approached their projects. Overall, I think both performed well—clearly, there are two web sites now that didn’t exist before and that’s the grossest measure of success.

Beyond that, though, I think each learned a lot about developing modern websites. Specifically, both used a content-management system of some type. Student 1 chose WordPress; Student 2 employed Concrete5. While this did insulate them from them learning HTML, CSS, and scripting (which I would normally view as a bad thing), it is a reality. With the advent of CMSs, plug-ins, and hosted services like Flickr and the myriad of Google/Microsoft online offerings, it’s completely possible to build a functional site without writing any code. Viewed in this light, I think the students I mentored learned a skill equally valuable to coding: the knowledge of how to leverage existing tools to build a site. They’re much more likely to be able to apply that skill to future jobs or projects than to remember the syntax for styling a specific div or how to close a single tag for valid XHTML.

So congratulations to these students on successfully completing their projects and their high school graduation. And welcome to my army of faithful minions! Remember to pick up your ill-fitting uniform and request your nickname from HR before you join the ranks!

UPDATE 2 (Nov 19, 2010): I’ve learned that Student 1′s project, developing thehawkeye.org, has earned the newspaper some serious accolades. Here’s the best-in-show listing, and details from their press release:

Our newspaper was entered into the Best of Show contest [at the NSPA/JEA national journalism convention in Kansas City, MO, Nov. 11-14] and received third place! We submitted our second issue that all the staff—new and old worked—on but that’s not it; our website www.thehawkeye.org received fifth in the best of show for websites.

UPDATE 3 (Nov 24, 2010): Looks like my army of minions is increasing! I’ve agreed to mentor another student from Mountlake Terrace High School for this academic year; we’ll call him Student 3. His website project is to re-build the website for his uncle’s restaurant. I’ll post more updates when I know more.

Everyone should command an army of minions to do their evil bidding. Most never bother to amass their minions but I’m well on my way. In addition to the two I’ve already bent to my will, I’m actively working on two new ones. Soon my army will rise up and take over the world! I should probably mention at this point that my “army” consists of high school seniors and instead of having them carry out my “evil bidding,” I’m really just mentoring their senior projects. But it sure sounds better that way, doesn’t it?

Seriously, though, I am mentoring two Mountlake Terrace High School seniors this year, as I have in years past. It’s really quite an honor to be asked to help guide these students. Both are developing web sites, which is something I know a bit about. They work on their projects for most of the academic year and present them to a panel of their peers, teachers, and community members come May.

I thought I’d mention the projects here and update this post as developments occur. For privacy’s sake, I won’t mention the students I’m mentoring by name; let’s call them students 1 and 2 (original, huh?).

1. The Hawkeye (thehawkeye.org) – Student 1 is re-developing Mountlake Terrace High School’s award-winning student newspaper, The Hawkeye. They’ve had a site for a few years but instead of becoming an active hub for news, it’s been more of a repository of PDF copies of older issues and web posts of articles already printed in the paper. Student 1 intends to change this by instituting required online-only content from writers and distributing editorial control through WordPress’s built-in roles. Of course, there’s also a design component with this project: finding and customizing a WP theme suitable for an online newspaper.
2. MLT Food bank website (www.concern4neighborsfb.org) – Student 2′s project is to create a website for Mountlake Terrace’s food bank. Currently they have no web presence, so this will be a step in the right direction. He plans to post mostly brochure-style content (location, hours, mission statement, etc.) though I’m encouraging him to incorporate additional information to “humanize” the food bank. For example, quotes or stories from people the food bank has helped; perhaps with photos. As this is a new site, I’m guiding him through the process of choosing and registering a domain name, selecting a hosting company, and recommending WordPress as his development platform. WP offers the added benefit of allowing the food bank to manage its own content after the project is complete.

Mentoring is an art that is more complicated than it first seems. It’s about finding the proper balance between telling and recommending, doing and suggesting. My main criteria for success are pretty simple. First, that the project gets done; second, that the student learned more with my help than they would have otherwise; and finally: that they don’t hate me when it’s over. Should be doable… except maybe that last one. After all, I am trying to build an army of minions and what good evil overlord isn’t secretly despised by his underlings?

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