Hopkins alumnus and former trustee, Dave Opton ’57, shares the importance of making an investment in Hopkins’ future through a bequest—a gift anyone can make, at any time.

While I did not realize it at the time I entered Hopkins as an eighth grader (2nd Form, as it was known then), I later looked back on those five years as the most important in my life. Not just because of the educational foundation it gave me, but equally if not more important due to the value system I absorbed from faculty role models such as Bud Erich, Eddie Brown, and Ken Paul among others.

As time went on, both personally and professionally, I appreciated more and more just how critically important education was in terms of the future—not just of my own children, but of our country and the challenges we face. The list of issues that need to be addressed and how they should be prioritized can be argued forever; but if you told me I could pick only one, I would put education at the top. I think it is from that foundation that all else flows. 

Most of us as we get older spend some time thinking about what we have done or could do to try to leave the world a bit better going forward. And some years ago I decided that if I were fortunate enough to be in a position to do so, I would do what I could to help Hopkins continue to contribute in helping to educate the generations to come. 

I also strongly believe that education is what provides the tools that all leaders need to help them to help others in meeting the challenges facing our country and, indeed, the world.

Making this investment in Hopkins is my way of supporting an institution I believe strives to make excellence the norm.