Besides the things he said, I think one thing which is really important is also offering your mentor something in exchange. I think, even if subconsciously, most mentors participate in this "relationship" only if it is mutually beneficial.
In this case, I think Steem has a lot to offer, I just finished my first University project on the Steem chain and the ease to develop it was immense compared to most other Blockchains. Ethereum is quite easy as well, but it is much more difficult to run the app on the main change for an assessment.

I hope my Paper will be accepted at the Journal I'm sending it to =D