By Lauren Gracco
CNN

Editor's Note: As part of our coverage of the 2004 election season, CNN.com is sending correspondents to the colleges where they studied to report on issues affecting today's young voters. In this edition, Lauren Gracco returns to her alma mater, Ithaca College.

	Former senior Michael Ahl: "What happens in this election will affect us for the next four years."
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ITHACA, New York (CNN) -- The 2004 graduating class of Ithaca College is entering a world vastly different from the one they knew as freshmen.

Their collegiate experience included the closest presidential race in history, the worst terrorism attack on U.S. soil and the ongoing war on terror.

Now the graduates must leave the protective bubble of college and find jobs at a time when the nation is set for another presidential race and when the war on terror is very much in the campaign spotlight.

Still, with diplomas in hand, the most pressing issue for many Ithaca graduates is securing a job.

Some students already have one. Others are waiting on phone calls and interviews to be scheduled, networking for a position that will pay the bills.

It's a marked difference from 2000, when the job market was relatively more inviting for fresh graduates.

"People who entered the real world then probably were not hearing about declining job statistics," said Daniel Prince, who graduated with a theater degree. "I wasn't hearing from my college graduating friends how difficult it was to get a job. And now I am."

While taking advantage of a sunny Ithaca afternoon -- and a practically student-free campus quad -- Mario Fontana took a break from a Wiffle ball game to discuss his employment status.

Now a graduate with a degree in journalism, he's feeling the pressure. "I need a job and I've got bills that are coming -- I'm going to have to pay off tuition. I'm trying to get something that I can support myself on and pay off my college debt. It's really, really scary."

Elizabeth Szondy graduated with a degree in speech communications and is without a job, too, but she's keeping her head up in a down market.

"Compared to 2000, I think we have rougher time," she said, "but I also think that if you work, if you do the research and keep your patience ... I think I will have a job by August. I just have to realize that I can't push myself or get frustrated."

Fight for the presidency

Before these Ithaca College students were job-hunters they were freshman. And while they settled into their lives on campus, George W. Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore were fighting for the United States' top job.

Then-freshman Roger Custer, who actively campaigned for Bush that year recalls the historic race. "I was pretty disappointed with the two-month recount business and how long it took to finally see who won, because this was really the first time I had been really involved with an election."

While Ithaca College had its share of politically knowledgeable and active freshman in 2000, not all students had the election foremost on their minds.

"I followed it at a minimum, I was in an [politics] class and at that time I was 18 years old, and I was just kind of getting into the whole college setting, so it wasn't the centerpiece of my first two months here," said recent graduate Sarah Whiting, who majored in politics. "But I definitely remember learning about it and watching."

Eric Lieb, who graduated with a degree in television and radio , remembers the historic evening: "As we got up to the election and votes started going in, our whole floor -- myself included, got very involved in it."

Effects of a national tragedy

After the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, Ithaca's campus saw a spike in patriotism and activism. Some students saw an opportunity to become more politically involved.

Seated in the campus pub now sparse with the absence of underclassmen, recent graduate Julie Zeldin noted how much the world changed.

"Obviously with September 11th, it's just a huge difference in the climate," said Zeldin, who recently completed her term as student body president. "I know that that's probably when I started becoming much more aware of politics and just the effects of the United States' policies and different things like that."

Other graduates, like Custer, who was chairman of the Ithaca College Republicans his senior year, saw the increased activity as only a temporary surge.

"Certainly it got more people interested and involved because we were hit right at home, right where it counted," he says. "But unfortunately, I think it was for a short period of time. ... And I think that has slowly been dying down."

'This election will affect us'

As the graduates of 2004 pack up their suitcases to leave Ithaca's campus, they carry with them the impact of historic events from their four years there. And for these graduates, this year's election could have a more significant impact.

Michael Ahl, who leaves with a degree in speech communications, said he thinks his fellow graduates will pay attention to November's election and for good reason. "What happens in this election will affect us for the next four years."

Amid senior week activities leading up to graduation, Aaron McGuire sat down for breakfast at Collegetown Bagels near the Ithaca Commons and said he sees a lot riding on this election generally and for him personally.

"Stakes are quite a bit higher, just because, now, issues of employment, the economy, and also national security are a lot more directly affecting me," said the new film graduate. "On [a] college campus, at least you know for a couple of years you have something to do with your life; you're going to be fed and housed and paid for and all that. But now, it's really kind of directly affecting where I'm going."