Hudson High School freshman Cullen Merrell recently attended a six-day deployment with the National Naval Flight Academy at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. The camp was designed to give students the chance to experience life on a simulated aircraft carrier. The students surrendered their electronics at the beginning of the week and were sorted into squadrons. Cullen was put into the Dragon Slayer squadron. She said the experience was amazing.  “I’ve got to be honest, it was beyond what I can say,” she said. “It was so realistic to what it would be like in real life in the Navy. For me, it felt like I really want to do this in the future. I was in awe.”

However, Glenda Merrell, Cullen’s mom, was not happy about the lack of contact during the camp. She almost didn’t allow Cullen to go. But after some persuasion, she let Cullen go as long as she and Cullen’s father were in Pensacola, too.

“She really, really enjoyed it,” Glenda said. “It really was a unique experience. It took her and her dad to talk me into it. Then we had to pay for the beach house so I could stay there close because I wasn’t leaving her there in Florida.”

The campers spent time on the many simulators and radars working on different missions together. They each received call signs. Cullen’s sign was Jessie because she was from Texas and the other campers thought she looked like Jessie from “Toy Story.” However, some campers started calling her Mom as a joke.

“Whenever you get on that carrier, you really don’t have anyone else to turn to,” Cullen said. “You get to be like a family with everyone on your squadron.”

During one particularly rough day when Cullen couldn’t seem to fly right, she said a fellow squadron member comforted her.

“I got off the simulators, I did a really bad flight and I’m just stressing out,” she said. “One of my squadron members came up to me and told me to relax — you’re fine, it’s just simulators. You’re not going to ruin your life because of this flight. That was definitely a really good memory of them supporting me when I had a really rough day.”

Many of the students at the camp were from military clubs or organizations like Young Marines and C Cadets. Cullen was one of 45 unattached students of the 200 who attended. Out of the 200, Cullen was named the AXP (Ambition Experimental Pilot) of the Week.

“It definitely meant a great deal to me,” she said. “I was not expecting it. … It was just such an honor. No, it didn’t mean you were the greatest skilled or talented or you learned the most, but it meant that you portrayed good leadership skills, you got along with everyone. You were able to work hard and have determination. It defined what it meant to be a leader.”

Glenda said Cullen is already making plans to attend again next summer.

For more information on the National Naval Flight Academy, visit nationalflightacademy.com.