 "Photo: Kaitlyn Kilmetis")
On Election Day morning, a crowd of university students stood anxiously waiting outside Trabant University Center. Four yellow school bus engines hummed; ready to transport the students to Philadelphia.
Students stood in separate clusters until they were asked to crowd closely together to listen to their call to action by one of the trip's organizers.
"Fired up!" he screamed.
"Ready to go!" they replied.
Over and over they repeated the motto that has become a creed for volunteers for the Democratic presidential campaign. Fired up. Ready to go. Fired up. Ready to go.
Approximately 10 hours later, it was announced Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, had gone blue, virtually sealing Presidential-elect Barack Obama's victory over Sen. John McCain for the position of 44th President of the United States of America.
The College Democrats organized the trip to Philadelphia, splitting approximately 130 student volunteers into two groups - one bound for the Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania area and the other to the Temple University community. The students spent the day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. getting out the vote and spreading the word about Obama through phone calls, literature drop-offs, canvassing, visibility and citywide Obama spirit truck rides, complete with a D.J. playing catchy, customized Obama rap and pop songs.
Senior Caitlin Zadek, a member of the College Democrats, said the trip was planned as a last-ditch effort to make an impact on the election's results.
"We wanted to do a really big event on Election Day, because that's the last leg and when we need the most people on the ground, so we got four buses and tried to recruit as many students as possible to make as big of an impact as they could," Zadek said.
Junior Paul Ruiz, president of the College Democrats, said the opportunity provided students with a rewarding experience.
"It was a great outlet for students to really get involved with the political process," Ruiz said. "Anyone who wanted to really help out the campaign in a crucial battleground state was able to devote their time on the ground. It really offered a good sense of self-fulfillment." Junior Erik Andres said he attended because he hoped to approach the election in a more hands-on way.
"This is where the front line is for the entire election," Andres said. "It's pretty much going to be Pennsylvania that decides this, so this would be an awesome way to experience the election."
Senior Kate Rosenblum said she considered the trip to be her last opportunity to really make a difference.
"It was the last hurrah," Rosenblum said. "The last chance to feel like you were a part of something that is making history."
Rosenblum likened her feelings about volunteering to sentiments experienced by members of older generations.
"I thought of when my mom talked about how her generation protested the war and felt a part of something," she said. "I had never felt that before, and I feel like that doesn't happen today as much, but I felt in that moment it was happening."
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who joined university students in their volunteering efforts through rides on the Obama trucks, applauded volunteers' efforts and recognized students' potential to have an effect on the election's outcome.
"Clearly, young people are paying attention to what's going on in this election," Nutter said. "They know the stakes are very high. The next president will have tremendous influence on whether students and young people go off to college or go off to war and so student loans, housing, jobs, economic development, infrastructure, poverty - all these issues are impacted by who's the next president."
Andres said he felt in participating he was contributing to a cause larger than himself.
"I remember on the bus home just thinking, 'Wow I just took part in something very important,' " he said. "I mean, we were in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania. Everywhere you were in Pennsylvania, you were on the front lines. That was real. That was something big."
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, 54.6 percent of Pennsylvania voted for Obama, while 44.3 percent voted for McCain.
Ruiz said through this victory, university volunteers were rewarded for their efforts.
"It paid off and not only did it pay off, it paid off big," he said. "We won Pennsylvania by a huge margin."
Zadek said the amount of student volunteers who helped in Pennsylvania on Election Day revealed a lot to her about the changing face of the youth and the university.
"I kind of started to realize how far we have come, our generation and especially our representation of the student body at the University of Delaware," she said.
Ruiz said although in the past the university may not have been politically active, the 2008 election has proven this is no longer the case.
"Maybe this is a different UD than a lot of people have even known but from my experience the University of Delaware does care, has cared and will continue to care," he said. "If it is a change from what UD used to be, then it is a change for the better."
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