BA in Religious Studies

Andrew Pedry, 2012

Andrew Pedry

The annual Distinguished Alumni Reception recognizes the accomplishments of an exemplary alum from each of the academic programs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Those honored are nominated by department chairs, faculty and staff, based on criteria that includes professional accomplishments, awards, philanthropy, service and contributions to the college and university community. In Fall 2017, the religious studies program honored Andrew Pedry.

From the age of seven to fourteen, Andrew Pedry lived in the Soviet Union and France as an Embassy dependent. Having experienced the import of America’s presence for good in the world, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2000. Meritoriously promoted, he was deployed to the Pacific where he engaged in humanitarian operations in East Timor in 2001; he also commanded two Scout-Sniper teams during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He married his high school sweetheart, Mrs. Rachel Pedry, while in the Marines, and the two moved to the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area in 2005.

After four years’ work in the corporate world, Andrew came to Mason, where he majored in religious studies and history. He graduated magna cum laude in 2012 with honors in both degrees, and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship by the U.S. Department of State. He and his family spent the 2012-2013 academic year in Montenegro before he returned to Mason for graduate school.

Andrew graduated with his master’s degree in history in 2015 and accepted a position as a history teacher with the Riverside Military Academy of Gainesville, Georgia. Today he teaches middle and high school history classes, an elective course on Leadership, Manhood and Valor, and coaches the varsity fencing team and the airsoft team.