Candace Colburn.

Candace Colburn of Salisbury served in the U.S. Air Force for 10 years, with duties as varied as driving big rigs in the oilfields of Texas to serving on the president’s security detail with her K-9.

Colburn said that after leaving the Air Force and moving back east, she chose Wor-Wic because even though she already had experience, she wanted to go through an actual commercial driver’s license (CDL) training course and learn the proper way. “I researched Wor-Wic because it was close to my home in Salisbury and I thought it had a great reputation,” she explained. “I wanted to choose a new career where I could possibly become my own boss.”

She used her veterans benefits to attend Wor-Wic, completing the commercial truck driver training course and getting her Class A CDL.

Kelly Carey, director of CEWD transportation, said Colburn was probably the most popular student to ever come through the class. “She was impossibly disciplined and eager to learn and excel,” Carey said of Colburn. “Every recruiter we had, called us back to see if she had made her choice and if she was coming with them.”

The former staff sergeant said that what she likes most about Wor-Wic is how supportive and extremely helpful the staff was in helping students achieve their goals. “During the CDL program, I thought that it was really cool that the staff worked so hard to set me up with several companies for future job opportunities. Then even after I graduated, they took the time to check on me and continue setting me up with companies until I was employed.

“After completing the CDL program, I had the knowledge needed to land my current position, where I now interview, hire and manage other CDL drivers. I also get to utilize my Class A CDL that I earned after completing the program at Wor-Wic, when I occasionally get behind the wheel and haul grain from Delaware to Pennsylvania and Maryland.”

Colburn says that with her current job, she feels she is on her way to achieving her goal of owning her own business and that the next step is to earn her degree in either business management or entrepreneurship at Wor-Wic.