Years before upcoming “Bachelorette” and former “Bachelor” contestant Jenn Tran was looking for love on TV, there was something else she was trying to find:

A college with “a lot of school spirit.”

She’d find it — in Wisconsin.

“Madison just seemed like the best college town — and it definitely was,” she told the Journal Sentinel in a Zoom interview earlier this week.

Ahead of the premiere of Tran’s season of “The Bachelorette” on ABC — it’s just over a week away! — we took a trip down memory lane with her to her time as a Badger.

From Tran’s favorite hangouts to whether she plans on ever coming back, here’s what she had to say about her former college town:

Badger games, the Terrace and her favorite Madison restaurants

Tran transferred in the middle of her sophomore year to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied molecular biology.

“I really just wanted a school with a lot of school spirit,” she said. “I’m just someone who loves a big community and loves a really good college town.”

With Madison having a “really good sports culture,” Tran tried to make it to as many football and basketball games as she could. And, she was an athlete in her own right, playing club lacrosse.

She reminisced about sitting on the Memorial Union Terrace with a beer, brat or cheese curds. And, taking her paddleboard out on the lake.

“I love to just have a good time,” she said. “There were so many good restaurants there.”

Tran went to Eno Vino Wine Bar and Bistro “all the time,” she said, and worked at its downtown location as a server in 2018. The downtown location, 1 N. Webster St., is on the 10th Floor of the AC Hotel and features breathtaking Capitol views.

Dana Thiel, Tran’s manager at Eno Vino, had never tuned into “The Bachelor” before last season. But, with her former colleague on it, she got into it.

Tran would end up making it into “Bachelor” Joey Graziadei’s top six.

“I felt like (Jenn) was very herself, as in really friendly, just genuinely a nice person,” said Thiel, now the restaurant’s GM. “It was definitely exciting to see that.”

During “The Bachelor” season finale, when it was announced that Tran would be the next “Bachelorette,” Thiel was “super-excited.”

“I definitely hope she finds her person, finds love,” Thiel said.

So, what was Tran like as an employee? No tea here. According to Thiel, she was memorable, reliable, friendly, really outgoing and brought great energy.

“Definitely how she was on the show, where she definitely just brings that positive energy,” Thiel said.

Another one of Tran’s Madison go-tos was The Coopers Tavern, 20 W. Mifflin St. She recalled going there after finals to treat herself to some sliders, cheese curds and crème brûlée.

Being in May 2020, the spring commencement Tran’s senior year was virtual. After moving to Boston, Tran and her gal pals would return to Madison in September 2021 for their in-person graduation celebration.

“It was so much fun to be able to finally graduate and celebrate,” Tran said. “We went to The KK (The Kollege Klub) after and had a really good time.”

A look at what ‘Bachelorette’ Jenn Tran has been up to since her UW-Madison days

Tran has been working toward becoming a physician assistant, but is taking a “little break” from PA school, which is in south Miami. In the words of her favorite artist Taylor Swift, Tran has “a lot going on at the moment.”

“I want to be able to really focus on PA school the best that I can because the end goal is to be a good provider,” Tran said. “I’m just pushing it off until I have a lot more time to dedicate to it.”

Tran is “The Bachelorette’s” first Asian American lead. She was born in New Jersey after her parents and brother immigrated to the United States from Vietnam.

“I never would’ve dreamed of becoming the role model I once needed when I was a kid,” Tran said. “It’s really quite full-circle and surreal.”

Does ‘Bachelorette’ Jenn Tran plan to ever return to Wisconsin?

Yes — just not during the winter.

While she “loves summers in Madison,” she called the winters “brutal.”

Tran wants to make it back sometime during a summer and also for a UW football game.

“It’s in the works,” she said. “It’s definitely in the plans.”

How to watch UW-Madison grad Jenn Tran on ‘The Bachelorette’

“The Bachelorette” Season 21 premiere is at 7 p.m. CT July 8 on ABC. It streams on Hulu the next day.

By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican legislators in battleground state Wisconsin on Friday appealed a ruling that allows disabled people to download absentee ballots at home in November’s presidential election.

Disability Rights Wisconsin the League of Women Voters and four disabled voters sued in April demanding disabled people be allowed to download absentee ballots at home and return them to local clerks via email this fall.

Currently in Wisconsin anyone can cast a paper absentee ballot but they must return them in-person to local election clerks or mail them back. Anyone could request an absentee ballot electronically until 2011, when then-Gov. Scott Walker signed a Republican-authored bill that allowed only military and overseas voters to use that method. Those voters still must mail their ballots back just like in-state absentee voters.

The plaintiffs argued in their lawsuit that many people with disabilities can’t cast paper ballots without assistance, compromising their right to cast a secret ballot, and struggle to return ballots through the mail or in-person. The lawsuit seeks a ruling allowing disabled people to download absentee ballots, cast them at home using assistive devices and return them to clerks via email in the Aug. 13 primary and the November presidential election.

Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell granted a temporary injunction on Tuesday that allows clerks to send voters who self-certify that they can’t read or mark a paper ballot without help ballots electronically in the November election. They will still have to return the ballots in-person or by mail, however.

GOP legislators filed notice of appeal Friday in the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Waukesha, which leans heavily Republican. The lawmakers indicated that they plan to argue that Mitchell improperly granted the injunction because the plaintiffs are unlikely to win the lawsuit and failed to show they’d suffer irreparable harm without the order. They also plan to argue that Mitchell wrongly disrupted the status quo just months before the election.

Doug Poland, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, declined to comment on the filing Friday afternoon.

Questions over who can cast absentee ballots and how have become a political flashpoint in Wisconsin, where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by less than a percentage point.

More than 30 states allow certain voters to return their ballots either by fax, email or an online portal, according to data collected by the National Conference of State Legislatures and Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group that studies state voting systems. The method has expanded in recent years to include disabled voters in a dozen states. Experts have warned, however, that electronic ballot return carries risks of ballots being intercepted or manipulated and should be used sparingly.

Disabled people have engaged in several legal battles in recent years over access to the polls, as many Republican-led states have restricted how and when people can vote. Among the issues they have fought are limits on the types of assistance a voter can receive and whether someone else can return a voter’s mailed ballot.

Nearly 100,000 Wisconsin adults suffer from vision difficulties, according to statistics compiled by state health officials. A little more than 307,000 adults have difficulty moving, including difficulty walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying things.

A Dane County judge issued a temporary injunction Tuesday that allows disabled people to download ballots in the November presidential election but still requires them to return the ballots in-person or by mail. GOP lawmakers filed notice of appeal Friday, indicating they plan to argue the plaintiffs are unlikely to win the lawsuit harmed and the injunction disrupts the status quo just months before the election.

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A warrant was issued for the arrest of James R. Lane, who was a youth pastor at Faith Reformed Church in Wisconsin Rapids from 2000-2004.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS − A 52-year-old Colorado man who worked as a youth minister at a Wisconsin Rapids church from 2000 until 2004 is accused of sexually assaulting a member of his youth group.

James R. Lane, of Centennial, Colorado, faces a charge of repeated sexual assault of a child. Wood County Circuit Judge Greg Potter issued a warrant for Lane’s arrest on June 19.

According to the criminal complaint, in March, a 36-year-old woman told a Wisconsin special agent that Lane was the youth pastor at Faith Reformed Church in Wisconsin Rapids. She said when she as 14- or 15-years-old Lane gave her a ride home after she babysat for his children. They were on a back road of Wisconsin 13 when he began kissing her. The woman said Lane stuck his hands inside of her pants and touched her inappropriately, according to the complaint.

The woman said on several occasions, Lane would “lay her down” on the floor of his office or other areas of the church and would get on top of her and kiss and touch her inappropriately. She said it happened about eight to 10 times while she was 14 or 15, according to the complaint.

Two special agents talked to Lane on May 13. Lane said he had a “relationship” with a girl in the youth group that got “inappropriate.” He confirmed the girl’s identity and said he had inappropriately touched the girl, according to the complaint. He said there were three to six times when they went on drives in his car and did what he described as “heavy petting.”

Lane said he and his family moved to Colorado in 2004.

If convicted, Lane faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

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Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.