Trinidad State College cybersecurity team earns national recognition

Trinidad State College’s first-year cybersecurity competitors earned national recognition, giving the Trinidad campus a visible result from a program built to move students toward tech work quickly. The performance matters in Las Animas County because it adds momentum to a local effort to keep more students in southern Colorado and connect them to jobs, internships and startups without forcing them to leave town.

Trinidad State’s Computer Information Systems program says students can start working in tech in as little as one semester and can earn industry certifications and a degree while building skills in cybersecurity, cloud administration and database administration. The college also identifies itself as a Hispanic-Serving Institution in its academic calendar materials, a detail that reflects the student population the program is trying to serve across southern Colorado.

The cybersecurity result also fits into a wider economic-development push centered on Emergent Campus Trinidad. In an April 9, 2025 Trinidad State update, the college said the tech hub and its partners had secured more than $9 million in state and federal grants to expand to Trinidad, where Emergent Campus Trinidad opened in July at 612 Park Street. That same update said the Trinidad site already had three tech startups, seven people using coworking space for their businesses and numerous businesses signed on to offer internships.

Emergent Campus Trinidad says the Trinidad site is intended to make remote tech jobs more accessible to local youth, which gives the cybersecurity program a direct workforce connection. World Journal Newspaper also described plans for after-school robotics and cybersecurity clubs, along with internship programs linking students with local businesses, showing how the college and the tech hub have tried to build a pipeline from classroom work to paid experience.

Trinidad State’s calendar lists a Free Summer Technology Workshop Series on the Trinidad Campus, another sign that the college is keeping the technology push active beyond the classroom. A community post tied to Emergent Campus Trinidad said Trinidad State Trojans were making a name for themselves in cybersecurity and were preparing for the National Cyber League Team Competition, underscoring how quickly a first-year program has become part of the county’s workforce strategy.