Earlier this month I met Yuri Vargas, a 25-year-old student at Westchester Community College. She’s an immigrant from Costa Rica who won’t be a citizen in time to vote this November. Still, her level of civic engagement puts the average citizen to shame.

Yuri (that’s her above) has been to debate parties, made donations, read up on the issues, and called other Latino students to urge them to vote. She’s written stories about the election for the college newspaper, The Viking News, and found in her reporting that international students were often better informed about the election than other students.

“I think that democracy is based on the voices of the people, and it’s a government by the people, for the people,” she says. “Even if I’m not a citizen, I am living here. I have been living here legally for four years. I pay my taxes, I come to school. … I certainly understand why I can’t vote, but at the same time I do feel voiceless, because I do feel part of this country, and it is my home.

“I still have my voice and my actions. I guess that is my little contribution and that doesn’t make me feel so frustrated.”

When I spoke to students registering to vote that day, Oct. 8, they all talked about change, change, change. Raven Rifiq, 18, a Yonkers resident (pictured below), said she was concerned not just for herself but for her parents — mother is a teacher and her father is a mechanic. She’s studying visual arts and plans to go on to study journalism. “I’d like some change,” she said.

… And here’s Beth McGrail, acting coordinator of student activities, managing the busy registration table as Tiffany Geraghty, 18, fills out a form.