YSU's pinup girl poses for Playboy

Twenty-one-year-old Lyndsy Wolff is a junior biology major with a 3.6 GPA. She has inspirations and dreams just like every Youngstown State University student and holds down a full-time schedule of classes as well as a steady job.But there is one thing about Wolff that separates her from the rest of the students at YSU.

She's a Playboy model.

Lyndsy is appearing in three different Playboy publications this year, one of which - Playboy's Fresh Faces - has already made its debut on the stands.

Fresh Faces, the issue in stores now, shows 18 girls who represent, worldwide, the new "fresh faces" of Playboy. Wolff's motivation to start her career with Playboy and get herself out there also happens to put Youngstown on the map.

Two more of Wolff's photo shoots will be in publications this year, including "College Girls," due out soon. It will say she is from YSU, and she'll be representing the area as well as the school.

The fourth week of May, Wolff will appear as a Coed of the Week, a privilege granted to only four girls per week. On May 29, fans can cast their votes for Coed of the Month.

For photos and voting, visit http://www.playboy.com and Playboy's Special Editions site, http://www.playboy.com/special editions. Wolff said she is hoping YSU will get out the vote for her.

"I really think it's going to work in my favor that I'm the Coed of the Week for the week of the actual voting, so my picture will be featured. But I'd like to see some students vote for me so that they can say that a student from YSU won this. I just want them to be proud of where they come from and hopefully of what I do," she said.

The dream job(s)

"It all started when I was only eight years old. I have uncles that used to have Playboy magazines, and I would just look at the models. I thought they were beautiful, and I knew then that it was something I wanted to strive to do," Wolff recalled.

But being a Playboy model wasn't the only dream she ever had. When Wolff was only six, she wasn't the typical little girl playing dress-up and asking for Barbie dolls. Instead she was interested in the way things worked.

"When I was six, I asked for a microscope. Science was all I ever wanted to do, and it's still my first priority. I guess that's the nerd in me," she said, chuckling at herself.

Wolff is working toward becoming a veterinarian. She plans to finish school at YSU and apply for the College of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University. The school only accepts very few applicants per year, but she is ready to take the challenge.

"School is my first priority. I love to model and I'm extremely proud of what I have done with it, but if it were to ever conflict with school or hinder my chances of becoming a veterinarian, I'd drop it for school. No questions asked," she said.

A future veterinarian and a Playboy model, Wolff is breaking all the stereotypes. That's what she wants people to realize.

"When people think of Playboy models, they think of fake, blond-haired women with tons of plastic surgery that are just plain bimbos. But that's not me. I'm 100 percent natural; I never had to change anything. I have goals and I'm going to reach them. I just have more than one dream and I'm on my way of attaining both of them - no matter how opposite they are," she said strongly.

It was the path that made the modeling dream tangible for the first time, though, that was completely unexpected.

How it all happened

Wolff has been posing and going on photo shoots since 2006. Her friend, Kara Kochalko who attends Columbus College of Art and Design, took some pictures to use for a school project. She decided to send some of those pictures into Playboy to see what would happen.

In July of 2007, she got the call to see if she was still interested in shooting more pictures.

"They wanted me to get to a casting call in August, but I wasn't going to be able to make it because I was going to New York City for my birthday. They made me send my pictures to their office in New York City and I had my interview. I remember it exactly. I was in the Trump Tower on the 97th floor," she recalled. A month later, she went to the famous contributing photographer Billy Jim, who shoots for magazines like Vanity Fair. They FedExed the pictures to Chicago, the headquarter office for Playboy. After looking at her pictures, a producer called and commented on Wolff saying "She's cute; she's natural; let's shoot her."

Her first photo shoot was a little intimidating, getting naked in front of people she'd never met.

"At first I was a little concerned, but the crew that does your photo shoot is so professional. They never made me feel awkward, and by the end of the day it felt like I was wearing clothes the entire time," she said. "I've come to realize that we're all born naked and we die naked. No one should feel embarrassed or awkward in their own skin."

After her pictures got out there, her career started right away.

She knew that the Fresh Faces issue would be coming out soon, but not as soon as April 21.

Through e-mail from her producer, Wolff realized that her pictures would be coming out in publications.

"I didn't even get the notice it was coming out until the day it debuted. My other pictures will be coming out this year. I couldn't be more excited!" she said.

Support, sans bra

Fortunately for Wolff, she has an extremely large support group.

"My mom has known about it from the beginning. She has always been supportive. My Dad lives in Florida, but I didn't give him the full information of all of this until I got the call that said I was actually going to be in photo shoots," she said. "My dad said, 'Lyndsy, you're a 21-year-old woman; you can do what you want.' It was really nice to hear that."