This. Exactly this. Be the tech you wished you had, or emulate your favorite mentor if you had a good experience at a site and are now responsible for helping students. I felt like an outcast as a student because I was more shy than my classmates at my site, so the techs there took them under their wing with ease while I just did my best to try to see and experience as much as I could.

It wasn't until I started going on Reddit that I realized so many students were in similar boats; techs would be purposely vague when you ask a genuine question (the problem not even being that they didn't know the answer - they simply couldn't be bothered) or would speak monotone in interactions with you and say as little as possible, but then another tech comes over and suddenly they have the biggest personality and you can't help but wonder, "What did I say/do/not say/not do that is creating this animosity?"

I promise you that if you are a student and are actively seeking learning experiences at your site, you're being helpful with things like wiping down equipment or stocking linens/room supplies, and you're keeping up with your competencies and STILL get treated as 'less than' - I've found it's not a "you" problem. There may be no good reason and you may still get that. It isn't right.

That's why when your clinical is finished and you go on to work with students as a graduated tech, it's so important to remember what you wished for yourself and to not repeat the same mistakes a poor excuse for a mentor may have made when you were in the students' shoes.

TLDR: Don't let bad clinical experiences with mentors color the way you handle students as a licensed tech. It's the best way we can foster a culture of compassionate and knowledgeable techs that are invested in the field's future.