January 21, 2005

TROY graduate filling passport thanks to Survivor

 From the halls of Troy University to the streets of Los Angeles to the jungles of a South Pacific island paradise, Troy native Bobby Jon Drinkard’s passport is getting crowded.

Drinkard, who earned a degree in print journalism and public relations from TROY in 2003, has added the islands of Palau to his collection of passport stamps that include Italy and France. The reason for his latest journey: as a contestant on CBS’s Survivor, set to begin Feb. 17.

Named Cosmopolitan magazine’s most eligible bachelor for Alabama in 2003, Drinkard has traveled to cities such as Milan, Paris and Los Angeles to pursue a modeling career, but now plans to shift his focus back to the southeastern United States and finding a job more suited to his college degree.

“Traveling to cities like these was a great learning experience,” Drinkard said. “But now, I’m getting ready to use my degree from Troy University and get a job somewhere in the Southeast.”

“I just like it better in the South,” said Drinkard. “People just seem more grounded here. They know what they want.”
Waiting around for someone to call isn’t on this graduate’s list, however. He’s keeping his options open, but hopes to land a job with a sports organization or perhaps an outdoor magazine. “I’m looking into a few options,” he said.

When the show airs, Drinkard said he’d be headed back to Los Angeles to “tie up loose ends.” “I’m not going to sit around with my fingers crossed and wait for something to good to happen,” he said. “You have to make your own windows of opportunity in life.”
Bound by a strict contract with CBS, Drinkard will be unable to comment about his experiences on Survivor until the show ends.
He is a 1995 Charles Henderson High School graduate, and while a student at the University was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and worked in a lawn care business.