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Where can you see world-class athletes train for their sport? At the Colorado Springs Olympic & Paralympic Training Center (CSOPTC), of course! The center, located right here in El Paso County, is the flagship training center for over 10,000 Team USA athletes each year. The center provides elite facilities for multiple sports, housing, dining, and cutting-edge sports medicine and sports science facilities.

Pikes Peak Library District offers library cardholders an inside look into this exceptional facility. Check out a Pikes Peak Culture Pass and get a first-hand look at where Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls in various sports train to be selected to represent the United States as a part of Team USA. Take a guided tour of the facility, where you will see the strength and conditioning gym, aquatics center, wrestling gym, multi-purpose sport centers, and more. You may even catch some resident athletes training during your visit!

The center trains athletes in cycling, figure skating, swimming, shooting, track and field, boxing, wrestling, basketball, volleyball, and other competitive sports. With so many Team USA athletes living, training, and working in Colorado Springs, the training center’s participation in the Culture Pass program offers a great opportunity to see elite-level training facilities filled with athletes preparing for the next Olympic and Paralympic Games.  

It is exciting to know that some of the world’s greatest have trained at the CSOPTC. From Michael Phelps to one Team USA’s newest gold medalists, Freestyle Wrestler Amit Elor, the OPTC is your front row seat to the Olympic & Paralympic Movement.

Visit ppld.org/culturepass to get your no-cost pass to witness our nation’s best athletes aspire to take the world stage. For more information about visiting the CSOPTC visit teamusa.com.

Maintenance performed on PPLD's library system software last week resulted in multiple morning outages to the online catalog, the PPLD mobile app and the inability to use Libby/OverDrive as well as other services that require your library card number and PIN. This issue is affecting all PPLD patrons. The vendor is working on this problem. If you encounter any issues using any online PPLD service in the morning, please try again after 8 a.m.  We hope to have this issue resolved soon.

Pikes Peak Library District’s annual Jean Ciavonne Poetry Contest engages 4th and 5th grade writers. Poetry creates opportunities for children to explore a variety of topics and emotions through writing. The 2025 contest theme is Poems of Belonging: Home, Community, and Origins. This contest continues Jean Ciavonne’s legacy of connecting children with poetry and writing. 

Questions to ask yourself as you think about your poem: Where are you from? What is home for you? Who are your people? Explore these and other questions in a poem and see what happens!

Questions to ask yourself as you write your poem: Can we see, smell, hear, and taste the imagery in your poem? Have you used rich vocabulary that tells us a story or paints a picture in our minds? Does your poem reflect the theme?

Six winners will each receive a book and a $50 cash prize. The contest is open to all 4th and 5th graders in El Paso County.

Submissions open on Mon., Dec. 2, 2024 and must be postmarked by Sat., March 1, 2025. Winners will be honored during an Awards Ceremony on Sat., April 19, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. at Penrose Library (20 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903). 

Contest Rules

1. Must be a 4th or 5th grader in El Paso County, Colorado.
2. One entry per student. Teachers are encouraged to review poems before submitting them.  
3. Each poem must be the original work of the contestant.  
4. Poems will be judged on originality, including poem title and adherence to the theme.  
5. Submit one double-spaced copy of the poem on 8 ½ x 11” paper (no handwritten submissions or illustrations will be accepted).  
   On a separate piece of paper, include your name, telephone number, home address, school name and address, and the names of the teacher and principal. Poems will not be returned, so please keep a copy.  
6. Entries must be postmarked by Sat., March 1, 2025. Submission of a poem constitutes full permission to exhibit, use, and publish the poem for any purpose – printed or electronic media – and to publish the name, school, and photographs and/or video of the student without compensation.  
7. Winners will be celebrated at an Awards ceremony where they will be given the opportunity to read their poem to the audience.

Entries may be mailed to: The Jean Ciavonne Poetry Contest c/o Christa Funke, Pikes Peak Library District P.O. Box 1579 Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1579 Or email entries, following the guidelines above to: cfunke@ppld.org

Questions? Call Christa Funke at 531-6333, x6331 or email cfunke@ppld.org. 

Congratulations to our 2024 winners!

• Elsie Byrne, 5th Grade, Homeschool - "Overlooked"
• Lilia Gerber, 5th Grade, Gerber Homeschool - “Black and Brown Again”
• Enray Liu, 4th Grade, The Classical Academy Central Elementary - “Melody of Courage”
• Clara Pavri, 5th Grade, Colorado International Language Academy - “Figures on a Crinkled Map”
• Sara Schmidt, 5th Grade, Thomas Maclaren School - “My Lost Heart”
• Sienna Shafer, 5th Grade, Monument Academy - “The Best Dream”

Jean Ciavonne Remembered from PPLD TV on Vimeo.