After graduating from UNC Greensboro’s online Human Development and Family Studies program last May and passing the K–6 licensure exams, Candace Woodell got a job teaching second grade at W.B. Wicker Elementary in Lee County. Although she had 10 years of experience as a teaching assistant, this was her first time leading a classroom of her own.
She saw two immediate benefits. She no longer had to drive a bus — which she had to do as a teaching assistant, often taking her boys with her on the early morning routes — and because of her new credential and experience, she started at a higher salary. Her paycheck almost doubled.
“It has all worked out the way it was meant to be,” Candace says. “It was so worth it.”