Women of Iowa State, the time has come. It’s time to put the turtlenecks and hooded sweatshirts away. Time to pull out string bikini tops and floral print swimsuits.

It’s time to shave those hairy legs that have been hidden during the season of frozen tundra commonly referred to as Iowa winters.

It’s time to lotion that dry, itching skin and make appointments for the tanning bed.

It’s time to show off your best for Iowa State, home of the Cyclones.

That’s right. It’s time for the Budweiser Women of the Big 12 Swimsuit Calendar.

The calendar organizers have been running classified ads for the last three weeks in the Iowa State Daily asking for interested ISU women to contact them. But this isn’t the first time this company has printed a college-women-in-swimsuits calendar.

University Calendars, a company that specializes in photographing beautiful college women, has been producing this type of calendar for the last three years. One example available for purchase on their Web site, www.ucalendars.com, focuses on female students at Kansas State University.

This fall, the Women of the Big 12 calendar will be available at stores nationwide. Each month will have one university featured, with three college women from the college pictured. They are planning to print 250,000 copies.

These calendars will also be handed out at promotional events for Budweiser.

But details are still coming, organizers said.

Looking for details is what I was thinking when I contacted the company looking for some answers about the calendar.

Calendar-makers were ready and willing to answer all of my questions.

T.J. Kilian, vice president for University Calendars, said the company is still looking for swimsuit models.

“We had a great response. We have probably 15 quality models just from Iowa State,” he said.

And what exactly is a quality model?

The requirements are simple and easy according to Kilian.

“We are looking for women interested in being in the calendar. No experience is required,” Kilian said.

After the initial decisions are made, the calendars organizers will be interviewing the women to “learn a little about each person and make a selection later.”

Kilian didn’t mention any typical questions, so I thought of a few of my own:

“Do you prefer one-piece or two-piece swimsuits?”

“Would you be willing to be pictured topless with your breasts pushed into a sunny, sandy beach?”

“Describe how you represent the student body of the university you will be representing?”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to downplay the importance of the calendar. These are important questions that need to be asked. And I would be willing to answer any of these.

In fact, I would even like to be one of the three ISU girls pictured and hanging on dorm room walls during 2003. And I think I would be a great candidate.

I could represent the plain-Jane women of Iowa State with my freckle-dotted body. I could be posed in Reiman Gardens smelling a sweet rose with Jack Trice Stadium in the background, sporting my cardinal and gold swimsuit of Cyclone pride accenting my pale skin with an occasional farmer-tan sunburn.

Miss Michelle of Iowa State. I can see it now.

Plus, looking at the calendars that were printed last year online, I don’t think the women pictured look like they drink Budweiser beer.

Well, maybe Bud Lite.

But I, posed as Iowa State’s own Miss Michelle, can drink almost any swimsuit-sporting woman under the table. So, University Calendars people, if you are looking for the bacon- and sweet-corn fed girl of Iowa, here I am.

And just for the record, I prefer two-pieces, breasts covered and Cyclone sports.

I’m shaving my legs while waiting for the phone call.

Michelle Kann is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Garnavillo. She is the newsroom managing editor of the Daily.