To look at 16-year-old Meredith Simon, you'd never guess she leads survival missions in the woods in the summertime, teaching nearly 30 other kids her age how to get by in the woods for nine days with little more than a tent and a knife.

"And in the winter, we didn't have a tent," she said. "I love it. It's so hard-core."

Meredith, who is a junior at West Middlesex High School, is a lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol. The Civil Air Patrol, the civilian auxiliary to the U.S. Air Force, has a three-part mission: To increase awareness of aerospace education, to aid in search and rescue missions and disaster relief, and to provide a cadet program.

Meredith recently was awarded the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award, the highest award given by the organization.

To qualify for the award, Meredith had to complete 16 levels of achievement in aerospace education, leadership, physical fitness, and moral and ethical values areas.

She then had to take a 100-question exam on leadership theory and aerospace topics. According to the Civil Air Patrol's Web site, www.cap.gov, 42,000 cadets have received the award since its inception 30 years ago.

Cadets who receive the Mitchell Award are eligible for advanced placement in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force ROTC.

Meredith said she's been in the Civil Air Patrol since she was 12 years old.

"It just sounded very interesting to me," she said. "So when the recruiter came to our school, I signed up."

Since joining the patrol, she's led ethics and leadership classes and helps train younger cadets. She's also been on stand-by to go help with airplane crashes.

"I like it because I can help people," she said. "I can go out and help find lost children, that sort of thing."

Once, Meredith said, she was called out to help at the scene of what was thought to be a lost plane.

"I was actually in the car to go to the scene of where the plane was supposed to be, to start to look for it, and we got the call that they'd found it in an airport," she said. "It was good that they'd found the plane, but still ... ."

When she's not roughing it in the woods or waiting to go on search-and-rescue missions, Meredith likes to play basketball and enjoys science classes.

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