A Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornet departed the Jet Centers of Colorado on a very special flight Wednesday. When it returned roughly 30 minutes later, its passenger was left wide-eyed and nearly speechless.

“Holy cow!” Mollie Venable managed to say after she climbed down from the aircraft. “That was incredible!”

Venable was treated to a Blue Angels ride-along as part of the Navy flight demonstration team’s Key Influencer program, which offers youth-involved residents the chance to take to the skies in one of its fighter jets.

The precision flight team defines a “key influencer” as a person who has a positive impact on the “attitudes and opinions” of young people in their community. Venable, a longtime educator and former District 49 special education teacher, was an ideal candidate, according to her husband, Dan.

“Mollie has worked in early childhood special education for the last three years here, and she has been in education, in some shape or form, for over 13 years,” said Dan, who nominated his wife for the Key Influencer flight.

“She was also a regular volunteer at Woodmen Valley Chapel, and she has been involved in several COS I Love You projects over the years.”

About 70 area residents applied for the airborne ride-along, officials said. The Blue Angels, in town to headline the sold-out Pikes Peak Regional Airshow on Saturday and Sunday, selected Mollie from the list of finalists.

When the Venables learned that Mollie had been chosen, they were in the process of changing duty stations. Dan, who had been working at the Air Force Academy, left for Edwards Air Force Base in California in late June. Mollie had been visiting friends in Tennessee when she got the call.

“I was in tears,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

“She called me as soon as she heard,” Dan said. “I said, ‘Okay, then. We’re heading back to Colorado Springs.’”

In addition to her husband, several friends, family members and former District 49 colleagues were on hand for the flight. Beverly Baker, Mollie’s mother, had tears in her eyes as she watched her daughter take off in the fighter jet.

“We’re so proud of her,” Baker said.

“She’s been so excited from the minute she got the news,” said Jim Baker, Mollie’s father. “I’m actually a little jealous.”

Mollie said she was awestruck at the view of Pikes Peak from the aircraft, and a little surprised at the lack of turbulence.

“That was the smoothest flight I’ve ever had,” she said. “It was incredible. But I also feel like I just ran five miles.”

After the flight, she was presented with a framed Blue Angels photograph, with autographs from the team members.

“This has been a great experience,” she said. “I’m really honored.”