Capstone Project Wiki

One of the most rewarding parts of being a Capstone coach is the opportunity to mentor individual students. The personal relationships you develop during this mentoring may be lifelong—coaches often hear from students who were on their team two decades earlier. As a coach, you will encourage and help students as you share expertise, skills, and faith you have developed throughout your career. Some suggestions for mentoring are given below.

Share your professional expertise with them

Help the students by sharing lessons you've learned. They are anxious to know how they can make a difference in the world. As you have the opportunity, share lessons you've learned through both success and failure. Help them understand that they can become like you.

Help them develop success skills

Most of the major issues affecting personal success both inside and outside the university are not technical. Interpersonal skills and personal habits can help or hurt students. Some of your students will need help to overcome challenges they face. As a mentor, you can help them make needed changes.

Give them encouragement and hope

At times during the year, the project will seem overwhelming. Students may be insecure about their ability to work on a challenging project. It will seem impossible to the team that they can succeed. They may feel inadequate and frightened by the challenges that face them both within Capstone and in their personal lives.

As an experienced engineer, you've lived through times like this. Believe in their abilities and demonstrate that you believe in them. Help the students see that things are not as bleak as they appear. Show them that they are extremely capable and that they can do it. Help them find hope by expressing your faith in them. Your faith in the students will help them rise to the challenge and grow personally and professionally.

Praise publicly, correct privately

Students love to hear praise for their work. Look for opportunities to publicly commend them. Positive comments encourage both the student who is praised and their teammates.

Correction will be necessary at times. When you correct, do so in private, and as kindly as possible. Make it clear that you are correcting in order to help them succeed and be sure to follow up with an increase of love, as described in D&C 121:43.

Share your faith with them

BYU classes are designed to be spiritually strengthening, and as a coach you play a critical role in accomplishing this goal. You will have opportunities to share your testimony with your team and other Capstone students. Please express your faith when appropriate to uplift the students you mentor.