My name is Warner Hopkins, Project Manager at TAB Associates with the third installation. I was born and raised in the Roaring Fork Valley, attended CU Boulder, and graduated in 2005. All my life I knew I wanted to continue living in the mountains of Colorado and the Vail Valley was a perfect fit, nestled between where I grew up and cities of the Front Range. Las
t winter my wife and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl into our small family and most of the past year has been spent enjoying all the joy she brings to our lives. We have put down roots in this community and are looking forward to the coming years.
When I was little we had a class project where we had a map of a large plot of land along a river and we had to lay out homesites along the river and surrounding hills. Over the course of this project I realized what I wanted to be when I grew up. In the summers of high school and college I worked at a local Construction Company, this helped pay for my tuition while also giving me a strong background in how things actually go together. While I had always been able to read maps and understand directions, seeing how all the lines on the paper came together to create a home was experience I will never forget.
In the past few years the main focus of the office has been on the commercial side of the business and this has been a personal learning experience, as up until a few years ago I had been primarily focused on the residential side. One moment I chuckle at was when I realized we had been awarded the project and were about to start work on my old Elementary, Middle, and High Schools back in the Roaring Fork Valley. While circumstances didn’t allow major participation in those projects, I was able to help periodically. With this and all the school work I have done in the past few years, I have a feeling of my story coming full circle with helping to create a learning space for the next generation in the same environment in which I realized what I wanted to be when I grew up. Perhaps we have helped them realize their dreams.