By Mariana Barillas
After 20 years in the U.S. Army, Michael Matthews was ready for the next challenge. At The Catholic University of America, he found the place to forge his new path as a non-traditional college student studying architecture.
“I wanted a well-rounded education to be competitive in the job market,” said Matthews. He chose the School of Architecture and Planning because of the opportunities to draw design wisdom and inspiration from classical to emerging styles, its reputation in the region, and strong studio culture. He earned a bachelor’s in architecture followed by a master’s in architecture and net zero design with a concentration in sacred space/cultural studies.
“The faculty are very passionate about what they do, investing a lot of time and energy into their students,” said Matthews. With a wife and newborn baby at home, he was in a different life-stage than many students. Nevertheless, he said he built strong bonds with his classmates.
Thanks to his hard work and connections built at the University, he recently started as an architectural designer at a firm in Alexandria, VA, just outside of Washington, D.C. It’s a perfect location to build his portfolio due to wide-ranging project opportunities – from federal work to historic preservation to standard commercial and residential buildings.
And those unique opportunities started on campus. One of the major projects he worked on as a student was the reconstruction of the Weatherbreak Geodesic Dome for an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a project featured in The New York Times that was led in part by the School of Architecture and Planning’s Tonya Ohnstad and Lorenzo DeAlmeida.
For Matthews, it’s hard to pick a highlight of his time on campus because there are so many opportunities for students to build their skill sets with hands-on experience.
“I learned something from every project I worked on,” said Matthews.
