The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) hosted students and instructors from South Kitsap High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (NJROTC) Feb. 21, as Nimitz transited Puget Sound on its way back to Bremerton, Washington.

Forty NJROTC cadets and chaperones embarked aboard the Bremerton-homeported ship as part of an effort to help future leaders learn what shipboard life is like.

The group, freshman to senior high school students, were treated by Nimitz’s crew to a display of life aboard an aircraft carrier.

“It was fantastic,” said Benjamin Weller, commanding officer of the cadets. “It was a really nice way for us as high school students to see a new light of the military that we haven’t gotten to see before. Just to see all the different positions that the Navy does; that’s something we don’t see a lot of.”

The cadets toured different spaces while aboard, such as the flight deck, the bridge and even had a meal with officers in the wardroom.

“I thought it was a really good tour,” said Riley Zappen, cadet command master chief. “We got to meet a lot of different rates and see what the Navy does. It was a pretty amazing day, actually.”

 “We’re so grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Capt. (ret.) Todd Schapler, senior naval science instructor. “Everyone on the Nimitz presented themselves spectacularly as they always do. We thank the entire crew of the Nimitz for hosting us.”

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