Celebrating 110 Years of Career Transformations in Denver
Find out how short-term career and technical education programs continue to connect learners directly to high-demand jobs.
Author: Emily Griffith Career Services Team
Date: September 2026
Since its founding in 1916, Emily Griffith Technical College has served as the first step on a career pathway for nearly 2 million students. That’s a lot of success stories.
What began 110 years ago as one of the nation’s first vocational schools is now the largest technical college in Colorado. Across three campuses, Emily Griffith offers 20 career and technical education (CTE) programs and 12 registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) designed to fit the needs of today’s workforce in a vast range of rewarding, in-demand fields.
Founder Emily Griffith established the “Opportunity School” as a workforce education institution where adult learners could receive hands-on training to find better jobs and achieve economic mobility. Today, Emily Griffith Technical College continues that legacy by providing direct pathways to thriving careers through affordable, flexible programs. Our founder’s original motto remains our guiding principle: “For all who wish to learn.”
Emily Griffith stays true to that motto through its commitment to inclusivity and student and instructor diversity, along with its broad, far-reaching catalog of career training programs. Adults seeking career training today have lots of options. Whether students are looking to make a transition into hospitality, services and management, multimedia, trades, business and technology, or health sciences, Emily Griffith’s programs are co-designed with industry employers, alumni and advisory boards to align with real-world workforce needs and emerging high-demand skills.
- Proven Results: As of the 2025–2026 academic year, 86% of Emily Griffith students achieved job placement in their chosen field. With a low 11:1 student-to-instructor ratio, students get dedicated attention.
- Flexible Schedules: Day, evening and hybrid options built for working adults.
- Affordable Education: Low tuition rates paired with robust financial aid options, scholarships and earn-while-you-learn apprenticeships.
For 110 years, Emily Griffith has adapted its hands-on training programs to meet the needs of the current workforce and evolving technology, but our true legacy lies in the success of our students. Meet some of our graduates and read their stories below.
The Barber to the Stars
When Victor Martinez started cutting hair in his grandmother’s garage as a hobby, he didn’t expect he’d one day be providing his services to professional athletes on the Nuggets and Broncos. But, as he puts it, when you put in the hard work and love what you do, things have a way of coming around full circle.
Victor moved to Colorado with his grandmother as a teen and found his options for getting a quality haircut in the area lacking, so he took things into his own hands and started cutting his hair himself. Over time, people began asking him who cut his hair, and his list of clients grew from there.
In 2017, Victor was working full time in a warehouse and cutting hair in his free time. He heard about the Barbering program through some friends who’d kicked off their own careers with Emily Griffith and decided to enroll in night classes while continuing his day job. He was able to receive financial aid, which made an already affordable program that much easier to focus on.
The hands-on instruction and industry connections transformed his trajectory. By the end of the 17-month part-time program, Victor graduated from Emily Griffith’s Barbering program with the license necessary to work in the industry and had learned fundamental skills from instructors with whom he felt a genuine connection. He was also among the first class to gain real-world experience in Emily’s Salon and Barbershop, a student-run business where students perform their services for the public under the supervision of licensed instructors.
Today, Victor owns his own business, Faded North Barbershop, with his brother Pablo, who also attended Emily Griffith. They plan to open its new location in the Denver area in September 2026. Victor says the career he started with Emily Griffith has given him a way to be his own boss, make his own schedule and ultimately make time for what’s most important to him. Being an entrepreneur isn’t always easy, he says, but being able to support himself while doing what he loves is always worth it.
Victor Martinez, owner of Faded North Barbershop, at a charity event providing free haircuts to the community.
The Journeyman Electrician
Faced with rising costs and a job that didn’t pay a living wage, Felix Herzog knew he had to make a change. Through his own research, he learned about apprenticeship programs as a path to becoming a journeyman electrician—a proven path to a high-earning potential without student debt. He took the opportunity and never looked back.
Felix enrolled in the Electrician Registered Apprenticeship Program, one of 12 RAPs offered through co-enrollment at Emily Griffith. These programs are unique and valuable because they allow students to earn while they learn, gaining a debt-free education and degree while mastering high-demand technical skills. Felix was paid a competitive wage while working and receiving practical, on-the-job training with Independent Electrical Contractors Rocky Mountain (IECRM), a partner in Emily Griffith’s Electrician RAP. At night, he earned college credit through classroom instruction as he prepared for the Colorado Journeyman Electrician exam.
Journeyman licensing requires four years of classroom instruction and 8,000 hours of job training. It’s a lot of work, and Felix valued being able to lean on his classmates and journeyman supervisor for support whenever he felt stuck during his training. Today he’s able to pass on that support to his own apprentices at the Denver Joint Electrical Apprenticeship as he trains them to become future journeymen. The career he reached through Emily Griffith’s Electrician RAP allows him to provide for his family, but teaching what he learned in the program to the next generation, he says, makes it all the more fulfilling.
Felix Herzog setting up the electrical backbone for a build.
The Sous Chef and the Restaurateur
When Cierra Carabelos first enrolled at Emily Griffith, the idea of running a kitchen that feeds up to 2,000 people a day seemed impossible. Fresh off a gap year after high school, she’d decided she didn’t want to pursue a university degree and instead followed her love of cooking to Emily Griffith’s Culinary Arts program, where she learned hands-on food prep and planning techniques in a fast-paced environment that readied her for work in a professional kitchen.
Part of the appeal, beyond her passion for food, was the efficiency and affordability of Emily Griffith’s Culinary Arts program. Students can either complete the program training full-time in six months or part-time in 11 months, all for a fraction of the cost of a four-year university. The program is also eligible for financial aid, which made things even more convenient for Cierra.
Today, Cierra, who graduated from the Culinary Arts program in 2021, is a sous chef at DaVita, a health care company that provides kidney dialysis services and employs 2,000 staff members at its headquarters in Denver. As second in command of the kitchen, she’s in charge of the ordering, scheduling, inventory and day-to-day food production for the entire cafeteria. Because of her training at Emily Griffith, she says, she’s able to do her job efficiently and confidently.
Cierra Carabelos, sous chef at DaVita World Headquarters in Denver.
One of the many strengths of the Culinary Arts program is that no two paths to the kitchen are alike. Charleen Ramirez, who graduated in 2023, spent 30 years in education before enrolling at Emily Griffith to change careers. Planning, prepping and cooking under the supervision of an instructor at Emily’s Cafe, a student-run restaurant, equipped her with the skills and confidence to open her own catering business and cafe, La Brewjula, after graduation. “I loved the energy of the kitchen,” she says of her time gaining real-life experience running a restaurant at Emily Griffith. “I thrive in chaos.”
Courses on learning how to run a restaurant or food truck successfully are part of the Culinary Arts program. But for those interested in starting their own business as Charleen did and taking their education a step further, Emily Griffith also offers a three-month, part-time Entrepreneurship Studies program, where students can build a finance-ready business plan that puts to use the technical skills they gained during their training. Emily Griffith partners with the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center and Huntington Bank to advise students in the program on fine-tuning their business plan and securing the funding to get it off the ground.
Charleen Ramirez-Mares, owner of La Brewjula Cafe located in STEAM on the Platte.
The Courtside Troubleshooter
When a visiting team has a tech issue at Ball Arena, they know just who to call. Ian Fraire Vasquez, who made a career change after graduating from Emily Griffith’s Computer Networking program in 2021, is an integral member of the service desk team at Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. He uses the network implementation and security skills he learned through hands-on training at Emily Griffith to keep things running smoothly during Nuggets and Avalanche games and other high-profile events, whether that’s courtside, in the locker room or in the teams’ front offices.
Ian says the support he received from his instructor at Emily Griffith and the success stories of past students gave him all the encouragement he needed to finish the Computer Networking program and land his dream career in IT. Today, he’s grateful for the stability of his mostly 9-to-5 schedule and the opportunity to be a part of exciting events happening in his community.
Computer Networking is a five-month, full-time program that prepares students for a modern workforce with real-world skills used in implementing, configuring and troubleshooting basic networking hardware, protocols and services. It’s eligible for financial aid, and tuition includes preparation for the industry-standard CompTIA A+ Certification exams, ensuring graduates can reach the big leagues no matter what industry they choose to work in. Credits earned in the Computer Networking program can likely be transferred toward an Associate of Applied Science degree in computer network technology at Arapahoe Community College, and graduates of the program with a 2.3 GPA or higher are guaranteed admission to CSU Global’s bachelor’s in computer science program should they want to continue their education.
Ian Fraire-Vasquez, IT Support Specialist at Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, supporting the 2023 NBA Championship game at Ball Arena.
Career Services Is Here To Help
Every Emily Griffith success story begins the same: with a decision to make a change. Whether a student is switching careers, learning a trade or building toward a lifelong goal, Emily Griffith Technical College offers a direct pathway—and our Career Services team provides the road map. From program-specific resume templates to one-on-one career coaching, interview preparation and direct access to top Denver employers on our job board, Career Services has the tools to help you turn your coursework into a career.
Ready to take the next step?
- To find your path: Explore Emily Griffith’s career and trade programs or reach out to Admissions at admissions@emilygriffith.edu to find your fit.
- Current Students and Alumni: Your journey doesn’t end in the classroom. Schedule an appointment with a Career Coach or email careerservices@emilygriffith.edu to sharpen your resume and launch your job search.