Nov. 4, 2008. In more than 20 years of studying and working on college campuses, I had never seen such electoral fervor among our nation's youth. In Virginia, about 42 percent of newly registered voters are college-age. Only five hours after the polls opened on Tuesday, it was already clear to me that these young people were taking their democratic rights seriously.

A student walked into my office to share "good news." Typically, a student's good news is about acceptance into graduate school or a job offer. This young woman instead wanted to share that she had just voted for the first time. What struck me was not that she shared her news, but the way in which she shared it. "I just voted! For the first time!" Her voice was full of exclamation points.

Hers was not the only voice of enthusiasm. All morning, I saw students -- and faculty and staff -- proudly wearing their "I Voted" stickers. Some were still mobilizing to get out the vote for their candidate of choice. Everywhere I went and from my office windows, I saw animated conversations, smiling faces and the collective recognition that history would be made.

On small college campuses across this country, faculty and students know each other well, and the enthusiasm of one often feeds the other. This year, the professors clearly shared in the election fervor with their students. One professor told me that his eyes were tearing up as he drove students to the polls because he was so moved by, and proud of, their eagerness to vote. Another faculty member, who recently became a U.S. citizen, added a postscript to a professional e-mail that she sent that reads, "I voted for the first time today. So exciting! I feel very powerful."

Indeed, what I find most remarkable about this election is how the young people are experiencing the democratic process as empowering, not as mystical or constraining. The students with whom I have spoken were happy to stand in line on Tuesday for an hour or more to vote. They text-messaged each other, "Have you voted yet? I'm here, and it is so cool!" They debated the issues while standing in line at their polling places. They wore the long wait in line like badges of honor.

One student told me that he text-messaged his friends urging them to "Go vote! We may still be able to win!" This optimism reflects what political scientists Philippe Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl call "bounded uncertainty"; that a central tenet of democracy is that there is always some uncertainty about who will win an election and what policies the victors will pursue. But even on election morning, with eight hours to go until the polls closed, I already knew who the winner would be: the young people of our country.

Regardless of political affiliation, the candidates did something far greater than compete for the right to govern our country. Even though The Post reported [news story, Nov. 5] that Barack Obama "was able to win with a less dramatic surge in young voters . . . than many had expected," the number of young voters was still up from 2004.

The campaigns have mobilized a generation to believe in activating their citizenship -- to believe that each vote counts. God bless this nation's young people and their fervor to have their voices heard. May youth and political apathy no longer be seen as synonymous.

The writer is president of Shenandoah University in Winchester and is also a professor of political science. The University's website is   www.su.edu

Reprinted from the Washington Post Sunday Outlook 11-9-08