By ASHLEY BURKETT
PHOTO CREDIT Courtesy of ABC
A former College Park resident and University of Maryland (UMD) graduate is starring on the first season of “The Golden Bachelorette.”
Joan Vassos, a Rockville resident, graduated from UMD in 1985 with a degree in computer science and minors in math and business.
“I always wanted to go to Maryland, so I ended up there, and I loved my four years,” she told College Park Here & Now.
Part of the “Bachelor” franchise, “The Golden Bachelorette” premiered on Sept. 18 and features 24 men, ages 57 to 69, courting Vassos. During each of the show’s nine weeks, Vassos eliminates a few of her suitors until, on the final episode, only two remain.
Contestants on prior “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” seasons have often finished with a marriage proposal, but Vassos has told the media she will be happy leaving the show in a committed relationship, even if it doesn’t involve an engagement ring.
During her years at UMD, she was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority, located in Old Town at the corner of Knox Road and Princeton Avenue. She served as vice president of her pledge class, was in charge of philanthropy and lived in the house, Vassos told College Park Here & Now.
Vassos lived in Elkton Hall on campus during her freshman year and spent two years in the College Park Towers on Hartwick Road.
She said she was a good student but enjoyed the College Park nightlife.
“I studied a lot, but I have to admit that I would go to bars …Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights,” she said.
PHOTO CREDIT Courtesy of ABC
Vassos said she spent a lot of time at the Rendezvous Bar, known to UMD students as “the Vous,” in the space now occupied by the Cornerstone Grill & Loft.
She also frequented sporting events on campus.“I was very active. I went to all the sports,” Vassos said.
“Football games are so big, and we were really good,” she said. “It was when Boomer Esiason was the quarterback,” said Vassos, noting, “I dated a football player for a little while, so I was required to go to the games by him.”
After college, she worked as a coder at AT&T for about six years.
Filming of “The Golden Bachelorette” wrapped up in August, so Vassos is back home in Maryland, on a leave of absence from her job at the Landon School in Bethesda.
“I have a lot to do for” the show, she said. “I do a lot of the press stuff and the media stuff, and you know, I get to do fun things.”
Vassos said she occasionally visits College Park. Two of her four kids attended UMD. Her son, Nicholas, earned his MBA there and one of her daughters earned a master’s degree in education.
“I still have a strong link with UMD,’ she said. “It’s not just me now. It kind of goes to my kids also, so we have a lot of Terps in my house.”
Vassos said she enjoyed “The Golden Bachelorette” experience, but she is happy to be back in Maryland.
“I loved every minute of it, but there’s nothing like being at home with your grandchildren close by, and your dog, and your comfortable bed, and the coffee maker you like and all of the comforts of home,” she said.