COLUMBUS --There will be more than one “first” for the 1,400 Ohio State University students who graduate during summer quarter commencement ceremonies on August 30.

The ceremony is the first to be held in the Schottenstein Center, and the first late-August commencement to be held in an air-conditioned facility.

Graduates and guests will also be the first to see a special commencement backdrop, which has been designed and built especially for the ceremony.

The 66-foot wide set will provide a dramatic setting for the ceremony. The backdrop features eight stone-look columns towering 35 feet into the air. The set weighs just under 7,000 pounds and, while it looks like solid stone, it is actually constructed of plywood, cardboard and styrofoam, and built in pieces for easier storage.

The backdrop was designed by John Page, technical director at the Schottenstein Center, and is being constructed inside the Schottenstein Center over the next week by in-house members of the facilities staff at the Schottenstein Center and the Office of Housing, Food Service and Event Centers.

The completed structure will be unveiled at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday (8/23) at a luncheon honoring the team that put it together.

It will be used for the fist time on August 30 for summer quarter commencement and it is anticipated that the backdrop will be used for other special university events in the future.

Reporters are invited to the unveiling or may contact Brett Mayo at (614) 688-5577 (mayo.41 @osu.edu) to arrange another time to view the construction in progress.

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