Young people sometimes are caricatured as self-absorbed creatures, interested mostly in what they can download on their iPods, buy at the mall, text on their cell phones, or post on Facebook.

In reality, today’s young Americans are tuning into politics, and engaging in the world around them in ways that often go unnoticed…

…These factors may draw young initially into community service, “but I don’t think that they stay in it because of that,” said Charlene Gray, executive director of Pennsylvania Campus Compact, which provides civic engagement and service-learning resources to member colleges, including Millersville, F&M and Elizabethtown College.