Super Bowl watchers are familiar with the winning quarterback making the famous declaration "I'm going to Disney World."

Well, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student Katelyn Crabb is going to ... Detroit!

But that's actually a good thing.

Crabb is one of five finalists in a nationwide contest for college students to design a Super Bowl television ad for Chevrolet. More than 800 students around the country submitted ads, including over 100 from UWM.

Entry in the contest was required for students in Jessica McBride's Journalism-Mass Communication 201, where students are usually assigned to come up with a mock broadcast ad as a class assignment. This semester that was scrapped in favor of the contest.

Now Crabb, a freshman from Brookfield, could see her class assignment beamed around the world to over 90 million pairs of eyes.

Crabb's recent success makes me recall the broadcast ad I had to come up with two years ago in that same class. In many ways, they're similar.

Crabb came up with an ad for Chevrolet, a car company known throughout the world as a symbol of America. I came up with an ad for Blatz, a beer known throughout Milwaukee's more colorful drinking establishments as "dat beer dere dats a buck fitty."

Crabb was personally congratulated by representatives from Chevy on her outstanding work and filmed by a camera crew for a separate spot that will air before the Super Bowl.

I got a smiley face on my ad from my T.A., which hasn't yet translated into me meeting with representatives from Blatz. Whether this is because my ad wasn't quite good enough or because Blatz hasn't been an operational company in decades I haven't yet determined.

Crabb has the opportunity to do major work for Chevy that could potentially result in millions of dollars in profit for the company. I hope to one day have the opportunity to know someone who has enough money to live in the Blatz condos and eventually visit them there.

Crabb, who said she is considering switching her major to advertising, will have instant credibility in the Milwaukee advertising world upon graduation. I . . . watch advertisements sometimes.

So come Feb. 4, pay extra special attention to the ads you see during the game. You might see one from a local girl made good. I know I'll be watching to see if Crabb made the cut, though I'm suddenly less certain I'll have a Blatz in hand.

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