Where were you at 11 PM EST on Tuesday, November 4, 2008? This question will be asked of you for the rest of your life. That’s precisely what time the media outlets projected Senator Barack Hussein Obama of Illinois the 44th president of the United States of America.Your kids and their kids and maybe their kids – if Obama can pull off his proposed healthcare reforms – will all want to know what role you had in the election, when and where you voted, how long you waited in line, who screamed the loudest or who was rendered just plain speechless when they announced it.

For most Guilford students this was our first time casting a presidential ballot. Fitting because this will probably be the most exciting election of our lives. A nearly two-year epic that will surely win someone an Oscar in the next quarter-century and will probably win more than a few people an Emmy in the next year (Tina Fey?).

But what is most important for us, as Guilford Students, is the way our generation decided this election.

If you voted in North Carolina, a battleground state with a history of conservative support in presidential elections, you were among the 75 percent of young voters who supported Obama, according to exit polls. In the end, North Carolina gave Obama 15 more Electoral College votes by supporting him by a margin of less than 1 percent. Others of us who voted absentee helped Obama take eight states away from the Republicans, including the historically red state of Virginia.

America didn’t watch this election take place; we participated in it in unprecedented ways. Our generation has spoken and we have ushered in a new era in American politics and American history.

So make sure you remember that Tuesday night and how it feels to have a deciding role in one of the greatest elections in the history of country. When someone asks where you were when they announced Barack Obama’s victory, you tell them.