Nobel laureates, Supreme Court justices, billion-dollar entrepreneurs — Penn has many notable alumni. Now it can add one more to its list — a reality television star.
Ashley Hebert, a fourth-year Penn Dental student, will be starring in the next season of the The Bachelorette, which will premiere May 23.
Hebert appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Show Monday night to announce her decision to star in the show.
“She was absolutely a good choice for the next Bachelorette,” College sophomore Margo Slaff said.
Hebert was one of the final three women on Season 15 of The Bachelor — a show where one bachelor selects a fiancee from 25 candidates — which ended on Monday. Bachelor Brad Womack sent her home in the episode that aired Feb. 28.
Hebert will be taking off the next few months of school to film The Bachelorette, according to second-year Dental student Keith Goldman, who is friends with Hebert.
“If she can take time off, it’s worth it for true love,” Slaff said. “As long as you’re committed to going back [to school] afterwards, there is no harm.”
“I think it’s really good that the school’s being flexible,” Goldman said, adding that Penn even allowed Hebert to film the opening sequence of the upcoming season in its hallways.
“She’s exactly like how she appears on TV,” Goldman said.
“I hate reality television, but I watched. I will definitely watch the upcoming season to support her,” he added.
Although Hebert was unavailable for comment, “she seems very happy,” Goldman said.
In addition to being a Dental student, Hebert has taught hip-hop dance classes at the Pottruck Fitness Center.
“She is an amazing instructor,” said Hebert’s supervisor Katie Huber, who is Pottruck’s assistant director of group exercise and instructional classes. “She has a lot of energy.”
“She was always really outgoing and nice,” Angela Yecco, another Pottruck instructor, said.
“I am absolutely excited that I go to the same school as the next Bachelorette,” Sloff said.
“I was excited when I found out Ashley went to Penn,” added College freshman Ilyssa Friedman, who took one of Hebert’s hip-hop classes just to meet her.
“I went up to talk to her after the class, and she was very friendly,” Friedman said. “At the end of the class, she told everyone to watch The Bachelor. She definitely wanted people to know she was on the show.”
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