Emily Griffith Opportunity School - Denver, CO - Universities and Colleges on Waymarking.com

The Emily Griffith Opportunity School is renown in the Denver metro area for helping people receive vocational-style training to improve their economic status. Several friends of mine have completed courses and become nurses, barbers and automotive technicians. Classes are offered to all: whether one wishes to complete a program or just learn as part of enrichment. She is honored in the Colorado State Capitol with a stained-glass window portrait.

Emily Griffith Opportunity School is organized into nine college areas of study: the Apprenticeships Training Division, the College of Business and Technology, the Corporate Training Division, the College of Health Sciences, the College of Trades and Industry, the College of Design Industries, the Extended Learning Division, the Language Learning Center, and Emily Griffith High School. The Language Learning Center is the largest English as a Second Language program in Denver and serves 3,000 students a year. (visit link) , (visit link) and (visit link)

"Emily Griffith

(b. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1868 - d. Pinecliffe, Co. 1947; b. Fairmount Cemetery)

In 1947, the most celebrated of Colorado’s many superb teachers was found shot to death at her summer cabin in Pinecliffe. This still- unsolved case may have been a suicide pact between the 79-year-old teacher, her retarded sister and their caretaker. Despite doubts about her death, no doubts shadow Emily K. Griffith’s contributions to Colorado. This tiny, mild-mannered lady made a huge difference. At a time when many Americans joined organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan to persecute poor immigrants, Emily came up with a radical alternative—she offered the newcomers a free public education to help them learn English and job skills. As a teenager, the blue-eyed, auburn-haired maiden began teaching in a sod schoolhouse in Broken Bow, Nebraska. After moving to Denver in 1895, she worked in the 24th St. School in Five Points.

Miss Griffith became convinced that adults needed education as much as their children. She dreamed of making Denver the first city in the world with free universal adult education. Her dream came true in 1916, when the Denver Public Schools converted Longfellow School to Opportunity School. This adult education center at 14th and Welton Sts. has evolved into a block-long complex of the Emily Griffith Opportunity School (EGOS)—as it was renamed, despite her protest when she retired in 1933. Since 1916, the EGOS has educated more than two million people. Natives and immigrants alike have learned to read, write and speak English and been trained with marketable job skills." (from (visit link) )

Name: Emily Griffith Opportunity School Location/Address: 1250 Welton Street Denver, CO USA 80204 Phone Number: 720-423-4700 Web Site: [Web Link] Type of School: Vocational or Technical School School Affiliation: Public -- State/Provincial/etc. Date Founded: 1916 Enrollment: 11,000 Nicknames/Mascots: NA School Colors: Purple and Green Location of GPS Coordinates: Main entrance to the Main building School Motto: Not listed

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