Staff Writer
Panther Creek student
Laura Yost died as a result of injuries sustained in a crash on her way to
school on Tuesday, September 16. Immediately after the news of the crash was
made public, prayers for Yost flooded the Twitter timelines of students all
over the Triangle. Panther Creek staff and students gathered dressed in blue,
Yost’s favorite color, and prayed for her recovery; but the support didn’t stop
there. Yost’s story touched Apex students as well, and prompted prayer circles for Yost. The leader of the prayer circles was senior Cierra Brown. Brown said, “I knew a lot of people wanted to pray for Laura, but I wasn’t sure people would take the initiative to start, so I wrote something the night before, and people just joined in. It was really powerful how we all came together, religious or not, friends of Laura or not, and just felt for her and her family. I’ve always been really close with Iman Ziboukh, and because she knows Spencer [the driver of the vehicle] and Laura, I knew she was hurting. I wasn’t even going to pray the second time, but I had to be there for her. When she cried, I cried, and it was kind of an amazing moment to just embrace her and feel her pain.” One of the students with a close connection to Yost, was freshman Anna Grace Sloop. Sloop played soccer with Yost for years, and they were close friends. Sloop said, “Even though I don’t have a religion, I knew that she needed prayers, because her injuries were just too severe. It was extremely powerful to me how much the school came together to be there for her, because she needed a miracle. Her death has made me realize that I need to cherish every bit of life, at the start of every game, I step out on that field and play my hardest, and I’m doing it for Laura, because I know it’s what she would want.”
Wake County has had to deal with losing several students over the
past few weeks. Experts have been brought into schools to help students deal
with the loss.
