Many 19-year-olds are freshmen in college, and Derrick Seaver of Ohio is one of them. But he also is a freshman in his state's House of Representatives.

Born in Cincinnati and raised in Minster in west-central Ohio, Seaver developed an early fascination with politics despite the fact that there are no politicians in his family. "Both my parents are public school teachers. My grandfather was a union steelworker here in Minster."

His interest began after watching JFK when he was 14. "That movie, to me, was just a very powerful movie. It made me start to think, and it certainly made me consider politics as a career," he said. He also was inspired by John F. Kennedy's politics and personality. "He kind of spoke to me, saying that 'You don't have to wait until it's your turn. . . . Now is our time as a generation.' "

Soon after, Seaver undertook his first political endeavor by joining the Young Democrats of Auglaize County, of which he became chairman. In that position, he toured his district, trying to persuade a Democrat to run for the 85th District's vacant seat in the House. Eventually, his fellow Democrats talked him into running. His age was a smaller hurdle than his lack of campaign funds ("I had $600 in the bank when I first made a campaign finance report," he said).

Nevertheless, Seaver kept a positive attitude. "We campaigned from the start to win. I've heard it called an upset many times, and I guess on paper it probably does look like that, but we never, we never, campaigned as if we were behind."

Perhaps Seaver's biggest challenge was his party affiliation. "The district is 62 percent Republican, and I did run on the Democratic ticket. We knew . . . the party affiliation would be a problem, probably a bigger problem than what my age was."

One thing that helped him was his conservatism -- and the endorsements of the National Rifle Association and Ohio Right to Life. These organizations typically endorse Republican candidates, but, Seaver explained, "I felt that in the last election . . . that I was more right-to-life and I was more pro-Second Amendment than my opponent was. The endorsement of those two groups was huge."

The race proved to be very exciting, and very exhaustive. "I, by myself, knocked on 12,500 doors. We did every parade, {lbra}and{rbra} we did do a little bit of local media," he said. In the end, Seaver defeated Republican Dave Shiffer by 235 votes, a slim margin in a district of about 100,000. His victory drew national attention. He appeared in Teen People and on CBS' Early Show and NBC's Tonight Show .

After all of the media attention subsided, the freshman at Wright State University near Dayton, Ohio, finally began his two-year term in January in the Ohio General Assembly in Columbus. As in the campaign, his age has not counted against him in the Statehouse. "I've been accepted very well by all of my colleagues in Columbus. You know, there's been no discrimination on account of my age. We certainly all represent equal-sized districts, and we need each other's support." He is not surprised by his acceptance. "I was always told that politics will always accept you because America is always looking for people to get involved, and for the most part, that's been 100 percent true."

Seaver, who turned 19 soon after taking office, said that most of his job is how he expected it to be, with a few surprises. "My day normally starts very early in the morning, I'd probably say about 6 or 6:30. I have committee meetings normally early in the morning, and I will be in session probably by later in the afternoon. I go back into committee meetings all throughout the afternoon, and then the evening is full of receptions along the same lines, with different organizations holding them. So the day really spans about 14 or 15 hours, and that was one of the most surprising parts for me."

He said the hectic life of a legislator was not unlike the life of many high school students. "I think being a freshman in high school and being a freshman in the legislature is pretty comparable. The new job in the legislature is obviously difficult, when it comes to the amount of information you have to learn and the amount of information you have to learn so quickly."

The legislature is in session roughly eight months of the year. When Seaver is in Columbus (on average three days a week while in session), he stays with a friend who lives in the city. "Coming from living there (Minster) pretty much most of my life, being away from my family and my friends that are still there, it's kind of rough," he said, adding, "I was elected to be district representative, so it's important that I'm here in Columbus to represent their views."

During his first term, he's co-sponsored a bill to allow people to carry concealed weapons.

But he considers education the major issue for youth today. "I ran very strongly on the idea of trying to eliminate the state proficiency testing. This to me is a large issue; it's probably the biggest issue facing the state of Ohio outside of school funding," said Seaver, the only member of the Ohio legislature who has taken the test, which is a requirement for high school graduation.

Seaver believes the test is a case of misplaced priorities. "It's an awful lot of pressure on the students. It takes away a lot of valuable time in the classroom as they're taking the test. A lot of schools are preparing students solely for the purpose of taking these tests, so we're really losing the educational mission."

While Seaver's aspiration is to be a high school government teacher, he has given some thought to his political future. "I'm going to run for re-election, and in Ohio, we have a four-term limit, and I would probably serve all four terms if the citizens keep re-electing me." As to the possibility of ever running for federal office, he said, "I would certainly never rule that out. Like I said, I do love government, and any time that opportunity would present itself, I would certainly take a hard look at it."

Though he still has some decisions to make in the future, he is glad he made the decision to enter politics in the first place. "The experience of the campaign and the new experience of my job is one that I'll certainly remember forever, and I don't think that I'm going to regret this."

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Brian Reissaus, 15, and Carolyn Walker, 18.