Greenwood families traveling to Colorado for a winter vacation may be enjoying the talents of one of their neighbors without even realizing it.
Kendall Horne, the daughter of Stanton and Ann Horne of Greenwood, has spent her last two summers in Breckenridge, Colo., as a landscape architecture intern at Alpine Gardens, a landscaping firm in the area. The Mississippi State senior has designed around 10 projects this summer for resort areas in the state, and two of those are already being installed.
Horne's two approved plans include courtyard and irrigation design for condominiums at the Keystone and Copper Mountain ski resorts. She said she also expects seven to eight of her other plans to be approved by Summit County authorities and installed.
Although she is supervised by architects at the company, Horne said she is fully responsible for the designs she produces.
"My boss is a landscape architect, and he works with me," she said. "But I was basically doing these designs myself with him just answering some of my questions."
The 23-year-old said she has been interested in landscape architecture since her senior year at Pillow Academy in 1996, and she became interested in working in Colorado after travelling with her church, Episcopal Church of the Nativity, on ski trips to the area.
"I like doing design and architecture and I like being outside, so it's a good fit," Horne said. "I've learned so much from being out here. It's a lot different when you have hands-on experience."
Horne will graduate from MSU's five-year landscape architecture program this spring, but she said she has not decided what she will do after graduation. She is considering returning to Colorado or working in North Carolina.
