Alumni Profile: Ryan Casey, Class of 2012

When Ryan Casey graduated from Holy Spirit Prep, he was a football star fresh off a state championship. Since then, he graduates from the University of Georgia. Now, he’s busy running his family company and planning his wedding. We caught up with Ryan to ask him about his Holy Spirit Prep experience.

How did your experience at Holy Spirit Prep help form you into the person you are today?

I would say it helped form the core of who I am. The combination of AP classes we took in a semester were equivalent to the initial workload you can expect in college. That first semester in college is so important for your GPA, and Holy Spirit Prep helped prepare me to take on a college workload.

It really helped me form the core of my Catholic beliefs, and I still keep those today. I’m very lucky to have a fiancée who goes to Mass with me every Sunday and that’s something we both find very important. Holy Spirit Prep and their weekly (or more) Masses helped me realize the priority of going to Mass and continuing to work on your faith.

Outside of a year of rugby for UGA, my athletic career came to a stop at Holy Spirit Prep, but the intangibles I learned through football and basketball are some of the most important things Holy Spirit Prep provided me with.

It was really a variety of experiences and teachers: 6:00am to 4:00pm two-a-days in August, studying for AP Government and trying to pass the weekly quizzes, and all the trips we took together as classmates really helped me grow. It got me to the point where I am a person who wants to ultimately help others, be someone who does the right thing, and be proud of my faith.

What is your favorite memory from your time at Holy Spirit Prep?

Easiest question so far: 11/11/11, when we won the football state championship.

What are your plans for the future?

I’m looking forward to getting married in Savannah! As far as business, I have a very unique opportunity to run my family’s business, Claddagh Resources, right now. I joined after consulting at Capgemini for about a year and a half, and the timing worked out for me to make the move. I was named CEO in December 2018 and it’s been a very exciting time and I have learned a ton. It’s been a nonstop ride for the past year. We’re really trying to develop the business and continue to grow. We have a good amount of employees now. We have several employees who have actually graduated or worked at Holy Spirit Prep that have joined over the last 2 years. When man plans, God laughs –there isn’t a set “future plan” per se, but I’m taking it one day at a time and seeing what kind of heights we can take Claddagh Resources to.

Can you tell us about a recent experience that you will always remember?

Recently, a cool experience was being able to go on a business trip to Amsterdam with George Maranville, who I went to Holy Spirit Prep with from Kindergarten to 12 th grade. We got a lot of deals done, took in an amazing soccer game (AJAX-Tottenham Champions League 2019), and made a quick stop in Ireland as well.

Do you stay in touch with friends from Holy Spirit Prep?

There’s a group of Holy Spirit Prep friends who for the most part live in Atlanta and we talk daily. We had a fantasy football draft barbecue a few weeks ago with Trey House, Andy Moots, George Maranville, Kohler Reinstein, and a few of my UGA friends. It’s been very cool seeing my Holy Spirit Prep friends and UGA friends mesh greatly.

Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

This is the year UGA wins the championship - go Dawgs! [Editor's note: sorry, Ryan. There's always 2020.]