DO-IT Mentor Profile

Kevin Hopkins

My name is Kevin Hopkins and I'm what's known as an "incomplete" paraplegic ... that is, I have a spinal cord injury (result of an auto accident when I was 16), but I have regained partial mobility. I get around with a cane and leg braces.

I loved Math when I was in high school. I'm a digital pre-press technician. If that means little to you, let me explain ... it has to do with all phases of the printing process up to the actual press run - scanning, imaging, desktop assembly, color retouching and proofing. I have been involved in the graphics trade for over 20 years, long before digital technology was around. I have also free-lanced in graphic design and photography. For the past ten years I have been working at a company that specializes in retail catalogs ... such as REI, Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Sharper Image, Bon Marche, etc.

My real passion is foreign language. I am fluent in French and also have studied Spanish, German and Japanese. Recently I went back to UW to finish my B.A. in French, and am now preparing for a career change -- high school teaching in foreign languages. Currently I'm enrolled in The M.Ed. program at Western Washington U's Seattle branch. Next Fall I plan to be student teaching at an area high school. I still am involved full-time with my printing job. Needless to say, I stay very busy.

I live on a 31-ft. cabin cruiser at a marina in Ballard and, on rare occasions when I have free time, I like to take it out in Puget Sound. I enjoy swimming, travel, films (especially foreign ones), and most all kinds of music.