Find someone who’s done it before
One outside mentor is a must. A teacher and a parent are bonus crew.
Examples for:
Why you need a mentor
You’ll get stuck. Something will break, a shopkeeper will say no, or your crew will argue. A mentor is the person you call. They’ve done hard things before, and they’ll help you work it out among yourselves.
Required
1 outside mentor
Not a parent, not a teacher, not a cousin. A shop owner, doctor, engineer, neighbour, family friend or distant relative who runs something.
Optional
1 teacher
Any teacher except your class teacher. Ask them first!
Optional
1 parent
One crew member’s parent who’s happy to guide the whole crew.
The ask
Keep it small and specific: “Can I call you once a week for 10 minutes?” Most people say yes to that.
Try it
Make your ask easy to say yes to
Namaste [mentor’s name] ji, I am [your name] from Class [class]. Our team is applying to TinkerFund, a school fund for student projects, to work on [your problem]. Would you be our mentor? It means one 10-minute phone call every week for about two months, and helping us when we get stuck. We will send you a link to confirm. Thank you!
How confirmation worksWhen you apply, we give you a link to send your outside mentor. They tap it and say “yes”. You can only submit after they’ve confirmed, so start looking now. Finding the right person can take a week.
For your application, you’ll need:
- 1 outside mentor (required): not a parent, teacher or cousin
- Their phone number, and their “yes” on our confirmation link
- Optional: 1 teacher (not your class teacher) and 1 parent