CLINTON, N.Y. -- Hamilton College students are buzzing about more than just the first day of classes.

"Oh, I'm wicked excited. I think it's great. I'm very excited to see the process taking place and to be a part of the process," said Senior Eric Thomas.

The presidential process that is. The countdown for Americans to choose the next commander-in-chief is on, and college students are closely watching how the race and the conventions unfold.

"Even though I am a registered democrat, I still believe that it's important to listen to the other side of things and listen to the views. I'm interested to see how they're going to fire up their different republicans that are around the country," said senior Brianna Felton.

Around the country, this year many college students like the ones at Hamilton will participate in a presidential election for the very first time. There's what you can call a college-wide effort here to get students involved in the process. When first-year students arrived on campus this week, more than half of them registered to vote.

"I've been voting for a couple of years, but this is my first presidential election and it's really an exciting one to have the first one. It's two great candidates," said sophomore Becky Cairns.

"I'm fired up, I'm sending away for my absentee ballot and all that fun stuff," said senior Sam Reisen.

They all believe young people will play an important role in this election, but that's only if their peers make their presence known on Election Day.

"I think young people have a responsibility to get out and vote because we certainly complain about the results," said Thomas.