The Queen of Dekes

Biography

BACKGROUND

Candice and her dad, the reason behind her love of sports.

Candice was born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa., a place she’ll probably always call home. She has been a passionate person since the day she was born, which can be a blessing and a curse.

Her love of sports started at the tender age of four. Her parents split their working hours so someone was always home with her, and at night, the task fell to her father. Growing up, she would sit with him and watch multiple sports, which spawned her admiration of football, baseball and ice hockey.

Though she enjoyed watching sports, Candice followed the path of a musician starting in middle school instead of continuing in field hockey, lacrosse and gymnastics.

In eighth grade, a school field trip to Gettysburg stirred emotions inside her that she could never fully explain. It was a moment that changed her life for the better.

Candice returned home with a new passion – this time for American military history.

She went through her high school life as one of those ‘band geeks’ – as some lovingly call it – and tried to consume as much history knowledge as possible.

It was obvious to all who knew Candice that she would go to college as an American history major. She spent time living in Boston, Mass., and attending Suffolk University, but it wouldn’t last. Though she had a strong love of history, she couldn’t find the profession that would make her content in life, so she returned home to Pennsylvania to try and sort out what she wanted.

In 2009, the pieces fell together for Candice. All her life, she would write whenever she could. She wrote little books as a child, kept memories of vacations through journals and never hating the occasional research papers in school. Combined with her knowledge of sports, she took a chance by returning to college as a sports journalist.

From the first assignment, it seemed as though this was the profession Candice was meant to be a part of. Three years later, she graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor’s in Journalism and is embarking on what will hopefully be a long, fulfilling career as a sports writer.

WRITING

Candice started writing for The Communitarian, the newspaper for Delaware County Community College, where she first tested out the idea of journalism before transferring to Temple. During her second semester there, she interned at the well-known Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia.

After that, she began to grow her name by becoming a writer with Chicks Who Give a Puck, an online hockey blog written by a staff of women. When the site fell through, she ambitiously set out to cover a pro ice hockey team and landed a gig with Something’s Bruin, covering the ECHL’s Reading Royals and added the Trenton Titans as well.

Once Candice graduated, she quickly received freelancing gigs with The Phoenix and Reading Eagle newspapers, covering a multitude of subjects and sports.

Her shining moment came in December 2012 when she was published in The Hockey News magazine.

HOBBIES

Standing in retreat at the 2008 DCA World Championships as a member of the Reading Buccaneers.

Though she’s a sports writer, Candice tries to maintain her other passions through hobbies.

Music has always played an important role in her life and probably always will. Starting in fourth grade, Candice picked up the trumpet and hasn’t put it down since. She was a part of every musical ensemble possible through school and into her first year of college. In 2006, she took a leap into the world of drum corps and joined the Reading Buccaneers Drum & Bugle Corps.

She has had something to do with the corps since that time and considers herself part of the unbreakable, close-knit Family in Blue. She has taken some time off at the moment to set up her career, but plans to make a return to the activity in 2014.

Though the biggest reason for taking time away from the Buccaneers is because of her job, a portion of it is also due to the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.

In 2003, Candice threw herself into re-living history by joining the 97th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. The group portrays a unit that fought during the Civil War. She joined not as a civilian, but as a woman disguised as a soldier – which is, of course, historically accurate.

With the 150th’s happening, Candice sees it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of it and is trying not to miss the big reenactments.

Reading Buccaneers
2006-2009, 2011 Trumpet
2012 Support Staff/Writer
2010 Support Staff/Merchandise
2008 Trumpet Section Leader
2008 Steering Committee
2006-2009 Undefeated DCA World Champions
1957-2007 Celebrating 50 Years of the “Balance in Blue”

Candice portraying women soldiers as a Civil War reenactor with the 97th PVI at the 150th Antietam

Civil War Reenactments
140th Gettysburg – Gettysburg, Pa. (Aug. 8-10, 2003)
Hibernia – Hibernia, Pa. (Aug. 30-31, 2003)
140th New Market – New Market, Va. (May 14-16, 2004)
Hibernia – Hibernia, Pa. (Aug. 28-29, 2004)
142nd Gettysburg – Gettysburg, Pa. (July 1-3, 2005)
Landis Valley – Lancaster, Pa. (July 16-17, 2005)
Hibernia – Hibernia, Pa. (Aug. 27-28, 2005)
143rd Fredericksburg – Fredericksburg, Va. (Dec. 10-11, 2005)
142nd Cedar Creek – Middletown, Va. (Oct. 21-22, 2006)
143rd Cedar Creek – Middletown, Va. (Oct. 20-21, 2007)
144th Remembrance Day – Gettysburg, Pa. (Nov. 17, 2007)
Hibernia – Hibernia, Pa. (Aug. 28-29, 2010)
Lebanon – Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa. (Sept. 18-19, 2010)
146th Cedar Creek – Middletown, Va. (Oct. 16-17, 2010)
147th Remembrance Day – Gettysburg, Pa. (Nov. 20, 2010)
147th Cedar Creek – Middletown, Va. (Oct. 15-16, 2011)
149th Gettysburg – Gettysburg, Pa. (July 6-8, 2012)
150th Second Manassas-Bull Run – Middletown, Va. (Aug. 3-5 2012)
150th Sharpsburg-Antietam – Boonsboro, Md. (Sept. 14-16, 2012)
148th Cedar Creek – Middletown, Va. (Oct. 20-21, 2012)