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On Thursday evening, the grounds of Loyola Marymount University’s campus were tranquil. The university’s Christmas tree glittered against a cloudless sky in front of the bright white facade of its Sacred Heart Chapel.

But it was a more boisterous scene inside one of the auditoriums, just acres of pristine lawn away from where seven Democratic presidential candidates and thousands of journalists and spectators were gathered for the sixth presidential debate.

I was at the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs debate watch party, where, over pizza and popcorn, the attendees cheered and jeered the candidates enthusiastically.

Many of the students who were there won’t be able to vote in March — or November, for that matter — but they said the stakes were high, and they wanted to participate.