With construction wrapping up on the South Oval, some students are excited to spend time on the previously off-limits area of campus.

With construction wrapping up on the South Oval, some students are excited to spend time on the previously off-limits area of campus.

As a fourth-year student here at Ohio State, I might be part of a small percentage of current students that can actually remember the South Oval from back in the fall of 2010.

I spent my freshman year living in Stradley Hall just a 30-second walk to the South Oval. I spent the Welcome Week of my freshman year on the South Oval at the Weezer concert with my floormatesand roommates. I spent countless summer days getting a tan on the grass with my friends.

I also sadly watched the South Oval become a construction site and a mud-filled swamp.

I passed by the South Oval quarter after quarter, then semester after semester, waiting for it to finally be done. But it just seemed like a never-ending wait.

Students were told the construction was part of the south dorm renovations, that way all four dorms (Smith, Steeb, Park and Stradley halls) could now have air-conditioning and it would be more cost efficient.

I remember being told the plan was to have the new heating/cooling systems ready for when Park-Stradley Hall reopened in the fall of 2012, but the construction remained until just recently.

The fences blocked the sidewalks and got in the way of three years of Mirror Lake jumps, which was quite a hassle with the mass of people. The blocked-off areas hindered past Welcome Week concerts, moving last year’s Big Sean concert into much smaller area closer to Mirror Lake.

But now, as I begin my final year at OSU, I can finally enjoy using the South Oval for two more semesters. I can also enjoy one more completed construction project on a campus constantly full of them.