June Volunteers of the Month: Rachel and Aaron Silverman and Nicole LaMothe
June Volunteers of the Month: Rachel and Aaron Silverman and Nicole LaMothe
Girl Scout troop blazes its own trails with awesome leaders
June 01, 2024
RANDOLPH, VT – Hiking, camping, snowshoeing, outdoor competency – it’s all the focus for Girl Scout Troop 63514, a Trailblazer troop who loves being outdoors. Rachel and Aaron Silverman and Nicole LaMothe lead this group of Girl Scout go-getters and have been named the Volunteers of the Month by Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, the council serving Vermont and New Hampshire.
“We were working with another troop here at Randolph,” said Aaron Silverman. “I said, ‘Why don't we kind of split and kind of tailor toward Juniors, Seniors, Ambassadors, Cadettes, and give them an adventure, and let's get them away from doing arts and crafts and those kinds of badges, and just teach them life experiences, life skills. Get them outside doing things that adults should be doing. So. Rachel and Nicole, we all came on board, and we've kind of been going full steam ever since. So it's worked out really well.”
The troop currently has seven registered members, most their own children, but they would welcome more into their adventurous group.
These Girl Scouts learn to be self sufficient and competent in the outdoors. Rachel Silverman described a tent-building activity at a local campground, where they had to figure out how to put their tent together, and each person could only ask five questions for help.
“Anything more than that, then they wouldn't earn the skill, you know,” she said. “But they had to work together as a group, and they did it.”
Social skills are encouraged too.
“The other thing I think we try and do on a pretty frequent basis,” Aaron said, is strengthen relationships. “You know, it's fairly easy for the girls to kind of go in a certain clique, and when we do some of these exercises, we like to break them apart, make them work together with not necessarily their friends, but their sister scouts.”
All three leaders bring a wealth of skills of their own to the troop. They have participated in the outdoor skills training offered by the Girl Scout council, and Aaron Silverman is the secretary of the Fish and Game Club in town, as well as archery director. He is the hunter safety educator through Vermont Fish and Wildlife, is a USA Archery certified instructor, and is becoming a bow-hunter safety educator. Rachel Silverman was a Girl Scout as a child and troop leader in Massachusetts who loved taking her city girls outdoors. LaMothe brings decades of experience in Girl Scouts to the group, was a day camp counselor, and did outdoor education when working at a middle school.
All three find the experience of mentoring Girl Scouts fulfilling. For Aaron, it’s also breaking the stigma that Girl Scouts is just cookies and crafts. He recalled a recent adventure at Bingham Falls.
“One of our girls - you know, you always have one that is kind of more toward the pessimistic kind of attitude,” he said. “Those are always the hardest ones, because when you do an activity, they're usually the ones, you know, ‘I'm scared. I don't want to do it.’ It's always a real negative attitude. She was a little bit afraid of heights, wasn't comfortable with the terrain, so finally I took her hand. I was like, ‘Hey! Why don't you come down with me?’ I know the girls. Most of them are pretty far down. ‘I'll do it with you. I don't care how slow we go.’ She's like, ‘I don't want to go down any further.’ I'm like, ‘Hey, if we get down there, you get to rest. That's the planned place to eat.’ And it was just coaching her, getting her down there, and when she was down there, she was great, having a great time.”
“We like the Girl Scout aspect of girls being strong and knowing they can do it,” said LaMothe, “without having influence or feeling the competition of people that maybe they go to school with all the time. It's just the girl-only atmosphere just feels better and more supportive.”
Rachel Silverman loves teaching girls that they can do things they think they can’t do.
“They do struggle with it,” she said, “when we ask them like, okay, well, let's pick a campground, so we can go camping. They always like to stay close, and like something they know. Like, let's go further. Let's push. I like trying to push them a little bit to find new places to go, because. you know, it's an adventure, learning things …and giving them that confidence to do things and do the unknown.”
Aaron Silverman likes seeing their faces light up as they master a new skill. “Just seeing (them learn) something they can use for the rest of their life. It's not just some sort of craft project that goes off to the side and say, ‘Oh, look what I did.’ It's something they can use 5, 10, 20 years later. For the rest of their life, hopefully.”
LaMothe agreed with her co-leaders.
“Just seeing the confidence build when they do try something new,” she said, “and all of a sudden they got it. And now they can do it. And they're not going to lose that, you know, seeing them all of a sudden realize: ‘Wow! I didn't think I could. I had that negative Nancy attitude. And now I've come to the other side and realize that wasn't as hard as I thought.” … And we try and celebrate that.”
The troop also does a lot of community service, like making first aid and feminine hygiene kits, and serving Veterans Day dinners.
“I always felt that we should give back to the community,” said Rachel, “so the American Legion Hall that we meet at, we do a lot for them.”
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains is grateful to this trio for all they do for their Girl Scouts, providing an incredible experience while also gaining the benefits of their volunteering.
Learn more about Girl Scouts and how you can become involved at www.girlscouts.gwm.org.
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Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves girls throughout New Hampshire and Vermont through volunteer-run troops, events, and virtual programs. Visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org to learn more.
