November 4, 2008: As news channels reported that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would be the 44th president of the United States, more than a hundred Stanford students converged on the main Quad for a spontaneous celebration. The atmosphere was unabashedly patriotic—students waved flags and sang the Star-Spangled Banner—and some commented that it was the first time they felt truly proud to be Americans. An estimated 23 million young adults cast ballots in the general election, accounting for at least 60 percent of the overall increase in voter participation.
Photograph by Sammy Abusrur
