Students and staff share favorite moments with campus science teacher

Teacher, mentor, and devoted Christian Terry Richards continues to impact Fresno Christian students and staff. As Richards is currently in the hospital, students reflect on their favorite memories and stories involving their science teacher. With the family requesting no visitors, prayers would be appreciated as he recovers. 

As well as running the Brother to Brother program on campus, Richards is the junior high Bible and science teacher. Entering his 58th year of teaching, Richards aims to impact students for Christ and encourage them to act as people of integrity. Teaching at FCS for 19 years, Richards continues to challenge students academically and spiritually.

Richards taught elementary and junior high for 33 years in Baldwin Park, CA before moving to Fresno. He provided independent study for high school and adult students in the Selma School District for six years. Richards joined in the Air National Guard Reserves from 1956-1962. He started as a substitute teacher at FCS before Gladys Kerfoot got him to begin his journey as full time in 1999.

The FC community appreciates Richards’ contributions to the school and would like to recognize him for all that he does, through teaching God’s word and caring for others.

Encouraged to grow in Christ
Aidan Muñoz, ‘23
Dec. 6, 2018

“I think that Mr. Richards has made a good impact on me to be a better person and to be kinder. In his class I have learned to trust God and other people, from him. I think he is a great teacher because he cares about and loves the students, and wants us to grow in Christ.”

Admires Richards’ endurance
Austin Petersen, ‘22
Dec. 5, 2018

“My favorite thing about Mr. Richards is how he would integrate his life stories into his lessons that he was teaching. Anytime he had any kind of lesson on any kind of topic, he would always have a story to go with it. He impacted the school in many ways, a lot with the guys teaching us how to live great Christian lives and just in general teaching a great class. We learned a lot from him as a teacher. My favorite thing about Mr. Richards is his endurance. When we went on the 7th grade trip he would plow through the entire three days of jammed packed trips to all the different museums and through his classes. He would be in class all the time. Even the day after he got ear surgery he would still be in class pounding it out and getting the lessons done.”

Empowered to work hard
Madison Bryant, ‘22
Dec. 5, 2018

“I think my favorite thing about Mr. Richards is that he always empowered us to be the best that we could possibly be. My favorite memory was when he used to make fun of our 5th period class just because of the way that we were acting. He impacted the school by just making us work harder and just be who we were supposed to be.”

A year and a half ago, The Feather video team created a video honoring Terry Richards and his Brother to Brother program.

Terry Richards: Man Behind Ministry from The Feather Online on Vimeo.

Enjoyed Richards’ positive influence
Kayden Marquez, ‘20
Dec. 6, 2018

“I loved the energy that Mr. Richards gave off, he always had a positive attitude and he taught me a lot. I just love the advice he gives, like ‘don’t do wrong’ is one of his famous quotes and I think that really applied to junior high. Mr. Richards was great, he was a great mentor he really taught me a lot of things and he taught me to use my brain in a different aspect, we did riddles every day during block period so that was really fun. I just liked being around him because he was such a positive influence and he was really well spoken. I just think he was someone there to help you throughout grades whether it was his class or not he was always there to guide you and give you the right advice.”

Connected with Richards individually
Hunter Raynes, ‘21
Dec. 5, 2018

“For me I thought Mr. Richards did an amazing job at just connecting with students individually. For me personally he would take time to sit with me at lunch and talk about my walk with Christ and all the things going on in my life. He always found a way to relate scripture to what I was doing at the time and try to relate with me. For me that is why he is such an amazing teacher. Many teachers can’t connect with students at the level Mr. Richards did and I think he had such a gift for that. He took time out of his teaching schedule to connect with individual students so I think that makes him really special. My favorite thing he did was when someone was talking in class he would just start barking at them and I just found that really funny.”

In the following podcast, Addison Schultz talks to Hunter Raynes about his favorite memories of Richards.

Appreciates spiritual contribution on campus
Hallie Rojeski, junior high teacher
Dec. 6, 2018

“Lots of staff have come through this school and there are some outstanding ones. Looking back on those who started the school, all have contributed tremendously, but from a standpoint of the junior high and high school, Mr. Richards and his spiritual contributions are incredible. His time spent with the young men having bible studies or Brother to Brother, you can’t put a price tag on that. He’s perhaps had the greatest impact of any of the people who have taught in the junior high and high school since I’ve been here. He’s a great role model of what we should all be like, Christ centered, caring about the students, he knows how to teach to get the most from them, and is just an incredible guy.”

Motivated by Bible teachings
Ashley Sciacqua, ‘22
Dec. 5, 2018

“Mr. Richards has shown me who God really is and shown me right from wrong. He’s helped me get through a lot of life problems through his teachings of Bible. My favorite memories of him are when he would tell us his stories and the joy he brings to us as well as making us laugh.”

Inspired to keep going in academics
Colton Allen, ‘20
Dec. 6, 2018

“I think Mr. Richards had a lot of great things to say even when he wasn’t teaching, because there was a lot of things we learned in his class, you know science, Bible and all that but I think that he had more teaching moments when he wasn’t teaching. Nothing beats the hat story.

“Mr. Richards is a really Godly man,” Allen continued, “and he imparts all his biblical wisdom on people because that’s the way that he knows to help people out. If you come to him with advice, he gives you what he thinks and everything that he thinks is based off what the Bible thinks. I just think he’s kind of inspired me to not slow down because Mr. Richards even at an old age he didn’t slow down, he was teaching and he loved it. He went to Calvin Crest, he did all these trips, he didn’t slow down because once you slow down you stop.”

Encouraged to be a person of integrity
Reece Trevino, ‘19
Dec. 5, 2018

“My favorite part about Mr. Richards class was being able to come in everyday and learn something new. Especially with his geography class, I really enjoyed learning about rocks, volcanoes and the equator. The main thing I have learned from him is to not to do wrong. The one thing he says everyday, he always says be a person of integrity and it has stuck with me since day one. I would tell him keep fighting on, because no matter what, we have your back.”

Values Richards’ influence on campus
Rylee Schwab, ‘21
Dec. 5, 2018

“I love how Mr. Richards is super caring when he is teaching. He also does a really great job of it. I love his saying ‘Don’t do wrong’. My favorite memory was in 7th grade for our field trip when he walked around with his little megaphone that did not really do anything and plowed through the museums.  Mr. Richards has impacted the school in many ways with the bottles, starting the Brother to Brother program and teaching classes for the boys to become men.”

Today, we give thanks to Terry Richards. Please consider sharing your favorite moments with Richards or why you are thankful for him in the comments section of the latest Feather article. https://t.co/YTSfvqyqRB #thefeather @fresnochristian #dontdowrong

— The Feather Online (@thefeather) December 10, 2018

Recalls memories of Richards’ humor
Landon Bell, ‘21
Dec. 5, 2018

“My favorite thing about Mr. Richards is that he can connect to the students and have an impact on their life. He can really give insight on their life and how they can change. My favorite memory would be at Calvin Crest. He wore the same hat everyday and it was really funny because he would walk in and act like he did not know what was happening. He is one of the most loved teachers and all the kids just seem to love him. He really helps the students, he has a program called Brother to Brother and it really helps the high school students and junior high students to get to know each other.”

Why do you appreciate Terry Richards? Let us know some of your favorite moments in the comments below!

For more articles, check out Join The Discussion: Christmas gifts, favorite moments or Luna Pizzeria serves Clovis meals for almost 50 years.

Morgan Parker can be reached via email and via Twitter.