Ron Herr '04

As a student at Kennedy Catholic, Ron Herr ’04 had interests on totally different sides of the spectrum: athletics and academics, art and math, left brain and right brain. His involvement helped him to think of Kennedy Catholic as a school focused on providing opportunities for students to excel, and as a place with committed teachers who care. As a member of the cross-country team, Ron developed a great group of friends who were always up for an adventure. Not only were they together for team events, but they also had fun playing Ultimate Frisbee on off-days. On the academic side, he appreciated the dual-credit classes with Seattle University, and the option to fit in additional interests, like drawing and sketching, for zero hour. He also gave additional time to activities like the Hunger Retreat, SEARCH, and community service through senior religion class.

Leaving for college at the University of Notre Dame, he had two different paths in mind for his future: one in Engineering, and one in Architecture.

While Engineering held an appeal, ultimately Ron knew he would miss the artistic aspect that he would still be able to pursue with Architecture.

Putting his skills to work after graduation, Ron kept up with his interest in community service and joined Habitat for Humanity in Cedar Rapids, Iowa through AmeriCorps. He spent one year there, building 23 houses for those affected by flooding.

After this experience, Ron was ready for the next step in his career, which took him to Houston, Texas, designing custom homes. Being driven by his professional goals, and his strong Catholic faith, when an opportunity came up for him to move to Washington, DC and integrate his Catholic faith into his job, he jumped at the chance.

With his current position at McCrery Architects, about 90% of Ron’s projects are for new Catholic churches across the country.

Most recently, this included a Cathedral in Knoxville, Tennessee, and work is just beginning on a church in Fairfax, Virginia. As part of those projects, he drafts designs of the buildings in watercolor. Washington, DC is also the city where Ron met his wife playing Ultimate Frisbee. When he’s not creating a new landscape of Catholic churches, you can find him back on the field, where he teams up with his wife to captain a team in the beginner’s league.