Commuter and on-campus students alike can now work out, hang out and meet on campus in the newly opened Student and Convocation Center.The center, located at 330 Boulevard of the Allies, officially opened for student use on Saturday, Aug. 28. The building offers facilities for fitness, gaming, meetings and relaxation.“The opening was like watching the fireworks go off. I was just in awe of it all,” Sam Kosanovich, Director of the Student and Convocation Center, said. “Having a facility like this to call our own is something we never had and something that is, now, so exciting.”According to the Point Park University’s website, the school’s goal for the student center was to “provide a rich assortment of academic, student life and athletic amenities that will enhance the educational, social and physical experience for students.”The website also quotes a June 2009 video testimonial from Luke Ravenstahl saying, “Point Park’s expansion comes at a ripe time for Pittsburgh’s continued growth and brings us one step closer to my vision of a 24 hour city.  With the resurgence of Market Square and more than $3 billion of investment pouring into the Golden Triangle, their aggressive plan will move this city to the next level.”Risa D’Souza, a freshman dance major, said she thinks the facility is already bringing students together and providing an on-campus outlet for relaxation.“It seems like a really nice place to hang out,” D’Souza said. “I’ll definitely be here often.”The center kicked off the beginning of Point Park’s construction of the Academic Village and is only one of many pieces making up the initiative. The remaining construction plans, according to the university’s website, are comprised of a Wood Street corridor, an urban corner park and Point Park’s future Downtown Pittsburgh Playhouse to be located on Forbes Avenue. The Urban Corner Park at the intersection of Boulevard of the Allies and Wood Street is the next priority of the university and, according to the school’s website, should be finished by the end of 2011.Prior to its identity as Point Park’s student center, the building belonged to the YMCA. Now the center, which retained the building’s old layout, provides facilities exclusively to Point Park students, faculty and staff .            The first floor of the building houses the Recreation Center and Student Activities office as well as the training room.Kosanovich believes the second floor will be the most popular student hangout spot. The floor has ping-pong and pool tables, arcade games, locker rooms and a group exercise room for aerobics, Pilates and other classes. Furniture and flat screen TVs will also be added to this floor.For those wanting to work out, the fourth floor is the fitness center is supplied with cardio machines, a room for spinning, free weights, a small indoor track and a racquetball court.A renovated gymnasium can be found on the fifth floor.Student clubs and other organizations can hold meetings in the updated, spacious rooms on the seventh floor. The Office of Student Affairs will also be moved to this floor.In previous semesters, clubs met in various vacated classrooms, sports teams relied on the YMCA for workouts and students were left with the basement level Recreation Center in Lawrence Hall.“There is no comparison between [the Student and Convocation Center] and the old Rec room,” said Rob Novia, a sophomore psychology major. “I think students will definitely hang out more often and feel more connected as part of the university.”