The trajectory of State Representative Mark Strama’s political career has been steep and swift.

After graduating from Brown University, he returned to Texas to work on Ann Richards’ successful campaign for governor and then went on to become chief of staff for State Senator Rodney Ellis.

In 1995 Strama left government to become program director for the non-partisan organization Rock the Vote, which has registered millions of young voters in its 20-year history. That experience inspired him to come home and found the first company to register voters online. He sold the company to Election.com in 2000 and returned to his first love, politics.

After being elected to the Texas House in 2004, Strama remained active in recruiting young people to vote, volunteer and engage in the political process. Strama’s Campaign Academy, which brings together high school and college students for a 5-week summer immersion program during elections years, just wrapped up another successful session. The group of fledgling politicos walked in 21 precincts in Travis County, knocked on more than 7,500 doors, logged about 2,000 phone calls and raised thousands of dollars for StramaRama, their end-of-session event that was staged last Saturday.

A few days before Campaign Academy ended, Strama calmly explained his dedication to the youth vote as his students buzzed around the Coordinated Campaign Headquarters — and as he tried to inhale a sandwich for lunch before rushing off to his own political duties.

QUESTION: How did you come up with the idea for the Campaign Academy?
STRAMA: In 2004, I was running against an incumbent Republican, Jack Stick, who had way more resources than I had. I had a history of working with Rock the Vote, so I saw the potential that young people can have. I had lots of them working on my campaign, and after I was elected, I had lots of applicants who wanted to work for me. But we just didn’t have the budget to pay them. So some of the people who had come to be interviewed actually came up with the idea. They said they would like a job but would volunteer instead if they could get school credit. That triggered the idea for a curriculum, so they could get back some of what they were giving. What motivates all of them is their love of politics and wanting to make a difference.

QUESTION: For people who may not know, what exactly is StramaRama? It sounds like a cross between a concert and a neck-whipping carnival ride.
STRAMA: StramaRama is their final exam, bringing together elements of the Campaign Academy into one final event. They have to book a venue, build a crowd, book a performance, raise enough money to cover the cost and then some. Basically they learn about fundraising, media and event producing. This year they booked Bruce Robison to play Hanover’s Draught Haus in Pflugerville.

QUESTION: The Obama campaign brought out millions of first-time voters. Many Democrats believe the future of the party rests in the hands of first-timers, but midterms are likely to be a challenge. What is your advice to Democrats as we seek to recruit and keep young voters?
STRAMA: There’s a fantastic University Democrats chapter at UT, probably the best in the country. I suspect their first meeting this year will have about 100 to 200 people. There were 500 people in 2008.

People whose first voting experience was in ’08 tend to believe the change they voted for will happen the next day. It is incumbent on us in elected office to give them something to believe in. We’ve got to think about what made ‘08 so special. It was not just Barack Obama’s oratory. There was a creative use of technology, which really appealed to young people. The economy was in free-fall, and we were engaged in two unpopular wars. So people felt the election was relevant to them. In 2010, the economy is still in the doldrums and the international situation is still troubled, but the sense that we’re heading off a cliff is gone, and that means political participation seems less important.

A lot of what has happened in DC since ’08 has been calculated (by Republicans) to insure that first-timers never vote again. We’ve seen all the obstructionism and negativism. They want all these first-timers to perceive that the political process is dirty and intractable in the hope that they’ll never show up again.

In ’04 I won by 550 votes in a Republican district. We won because we registered tons of new voters. We can do that again, but we have to give them a reason to come vote.

QUESTION: Which brings us to your re-election campaign. How is it going? We don’t hear much about your Republican opponent, Patrick McGuinness.
STRAMA: I think I’m OK. I’m not ready to declare victory yet. In a year when Democrats lose in Massachusetts, I can lose in Pflugerville, so we don’t take anything for granted.