The Student Union held the grand opening ceremony of the first floor lounge Wednesday afternoon, announcing the anticipated final name for the new first-floor area.”This is officially the Live Oak Lounge,” Chancellor Michael Martin announced to cheers and applause, as University and student representatives cut the ribbon, marking the completion of Phase I renovations of the LSU Student Union.The new lounge opened in July with the then-temporary name Live Oak Lounge. Students had the chance to suggest names for the new space and vote on the final three choices — Tiger Connection, Tiger Terminal and Live Oak Lounge.  ”This project has been a long time in the works,” said Shirley Plakidas, LSU Student Union director. “It’s taken three years to get to this point, but here we are celebrating the completion [of Phase I].”The celebration included live music from the LSU School of Music Jazz Band, free food and red carpet, celebrity-style photos.Plakidas said funding for the grand opening ceremony came from the marketing budget — established to keep students and faculty updated on the project and to fund a grand opening ceremony.The grand opening week included a billiards tournament Monday and a video game tournament Tuesday in the new lounge.Martin, LSU System President John Lombardi, Student Government President Stuart Watkins, Union Board Chair Allen Womble and Eric Monday, associate vice chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services and interim director for Student Life, cut the ribbon.”This is not the home, but the heart of student life on campus,” Martin said. “The quality [of the new lounge] makes it worth waiting for the next phase of completion.”Martin said the new lounge gives the campus a home-like feel and makes it a selling point for potential future students.”I really like the name,” he said. “The live oak trees are an important part of campus, and the name really fits the setting.”Plakidas said many of the student-submitted names included the word “tiger,” while others made references to Louisiana culture.”People are partial to the name Live Oak Lounge,” said Ellen John, LSU Student Union assistant marketing director. “It was nominated [as a finalist] and was a clear overall winner.”Trent Newell, international studies senior, said the new lounge is a great improvement, incomparable to the previous first floor area.”It’s money well spent,” he said. “The name is very fitting for the area because of the view of the oak trees outside.”Cailin Kingsbery, biological sciences freshman, said she has always preferred the name Live Oak Lounge because of how well it fits with the University.”There are a lot of oak trees on campus, making the name a good match for the lounge,” said Kingsbery. John said the new lounge has been successful since opening — Union officials ran through a punch list, including audio and visual systems, without finding problems.The first year of the lounge will be trial and error, gauging when students use the area for studying and when it will host live events, Plakidas said.  She said she wants students to be proud of the new Union.”I hope that a year from now we’ll be celebrating the grand opening of the overall project,” she said.—-Contact Steven Powell at [email protected]