The North Oval at The Ohio State University is a quintessential part of the OSU experience. Adorning every pamphlet, advertisement, post, and highlight, the oval is the epicenter of student life at OSU. In the warmer months, you can find a dozen tables of campus organizations selling things, recruiting, fundraising, or informing. There are students sprawled on the grass and filling the picnic tables trying to make studying a little more enjoyable. The crisscrossing pathways function as a hub for transportation to and from classes, meetings, and social gatherings. Scooters, bikes, and pedestrians are all trying to reach their destinations. Whether encountering a familiar face and pausing for a chat or manning a club booth, the oval fosters a sense of community and connections, truly embodying the heart of OSU.
In scientific terms, the EPA defines a watershed as “An area of land that drains water, sediment and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet.” Watersheds play a vital role in environmental and ecosystem health, providing essential elements such as safe drinking water, fisheries, habitats, and resources for various flora and fauna. They are also pivotal for farmers and local economies, having been studied and preserved for centuries.
The connection between the scientific realm and the Ohio State community finds expression in the article “Watershed as a Common-Place” by Caroline Gottschalk Druschke. She explains the watershed as a community, stating, “Community is the naturalized endpoint of the watershed, achieved through the coupling of an experienced place with a common project and, subsequently, a common responsibility” (84). Metaphorically, the Ohio State oval serves as a symbolic watershed, epitomizing a community.
The oval mirrors a watershed in both its physical characteristics and communal function. First, the physical qualities resemble a literal watershed. The system of pathways acts as the channels of water, all converging and draining into the center. Just as the channels of water all originate from distinct locations but merge, the paths of the oval each have a different starting point, but eventually all meet. The paths also have a similar purpose of inducing a flow of motion, keeping things in flux yet separated until they are ready to run together.
Beyond the physical resemblance, the purpose of the oval also has similar success in acting as a community hub. A watershed brings people together and offers a commonality between different people and places. The oval does the same thing for its students, bringing together people from all different places and backgrounds. Just as Druschke asserts, the oval serves as an experienced place for OSU students, sharing a common project and responsibility—being college students together. The oval facilitates this responsibility of being college students by providing us with a place to recharge, expand our organizations, protest for causes we believe in, and is just a quicker route to the many different things we must get to. This can be seen within the first weeks of the fall semester, when the whole student body comes together to find common interests at the involvement fair, taking place on the oval. The endpoint of the oval is to create a community of OSU students, just as Druschke describes a watershed’s endpoint.
The oval at Ohio State offers its students a commonplace that enriches our academics, mental health, and community. It is a system of intersections that all lead to the heart of OSU and the people who utilize it. It acts as our own watershed, necessary to the OSU experience and must be preserved and appreciated.
