Issue link: https://fredparent.uberflip.com/i/1466135
20 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • May 2022 "You learn new ways to trust God every day," says Yost. Key to rebuilding that enroll- ment was making a stronger effort to tell the story of how happy FCS families were with the education they were getting. As these efforts were bearing fruit, the COVID-19 pandemic threw another wrench in the works. After schools shut down for the end of the 2019-2020 school year, FCS leadership determined that the best way for them to educate and minister to students was in person. Through careful planning, they were one of only a few schools in the Fredericksburg region to open for in-person instruction on the first day of the 2020- 2021 school year. "As leaders, we just wouldn't have done it any other way," he says. "The real heroes were our teachers. They stepped up, and to this day they are fatigued from what it has taken to teach through a pandemic." This happened just as the school opened its new elementary building on a consolidated cam- pus, and FCS board member Larry Root says Yost provided a "peace and calm in the storm" that he'll always remember. As Yost retires, FCS is once again growing enrollment. An athletic complex on the back 40 acres of the school's property is currently being developed, and plans are underway for more classrooms as well. "Those things are just tools, but they are very exciting indications that God is blessing us and that we are able to minister to more and more families," Yost says. "It's not about bricks and mortar, it's about the lives of these kids, and that has remained our focus, a focus on Jesus Christ and these kids." Rick and Sherry Yost celebrate FCS' 40th anniversary. Yost with student. con nued from pg 19 "It's not about bricks and mortar, it's about the lives of these kids, and that has remained our focus, a focus on Jesus Christ and these kids." Rick and Sherry Yost celebrate FCS' 40th anniversary. Rick with Lower School under construction. Yost reading to students at the book fair. Rick Yost with the administrative team 2016.