Got votes?

When incoming LSU freshman Lauren Zimmermann received a call saying she was one of nine girls selected for the latest Got Milk? ad campaign, it couldn’t have been a better way to top off her 18th birthday.

Zimmermann, who grew up in Mandeville, knew the campaign could open doors in the field where she aspires to work: broadcast television.

Zimmermann entered the contest when her mom suggested she submit a two-minute entry video detailing why she should be a spokeswoman for the “Power of Nine” campaign, which seeks to educate young women about the nine essential vitamins and nutrients in milk.

“It’s funny how a YouTube video can lead to being a semifinalist in a nationwide campaign,” she told the Times-Picayune recently.

The public was invited to vote online, which determined the final nine. It didn’t hurt Zimmermann that her Fontainebleau High School principal allowed students to vote for her in the school’s computer lab.

For winning the contest, Zimmermann got to fly to New York City with her fellow finalists for a professional photo shoot, the results of which will be featured on a two-page spread in Seventeen magazine.