Jacksonville Native Drew Comstock Named Bob Freesen YMCA Executive Director

The Bob Freesen YMCA board selected Drew Comstock as its next executive director, tapping a Jacksonville native who most recently traded a second-grade classroom at Lincoln Grade School for one of the city's most consequential community leadership roles.

Comstock, a graduate of Jacksonville High School and Illinois College, will officially assume the position June 1. The board's choice reflects a deliberate emphasis on local roots: Comstock worked at the Y in youth and fitness roles earlier in his career, coached high school soccer and served as co-camp director for the Western Illinois Youth Camp before spending recent years teaching at Lincoln Grade School.

That breadth of experience, spanning the classroom, the sideline and the Y's own programming, positions Comstock to deepen ties between the Bob Freesen YMCA and Jacksonville's school community at a moment when the two institutions share significant overlap in serving local families. The Y provides childcare, aquatics, fitness, youth sports and senior programs across the region, and its executive director shapes fundraising priorities, community partnerships and hiring decisions for camp, childcare and fitness staff.

Residents will have a chance to meet Comstock before his first official day on the job. The Y is hosting a public meet-and-greet on May 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the YMCA building, giving parents, coaches, volunteers and donors an informal setting to ask questions and offer input on programming priorities for the year ahead. Board members have said community feedback from that event will help set Comstock's initial agenda as director.

His background points toward expanded after-school programming, youth sports camps and school-day partnerships as areas of likely focus, which could broaden childcare options for working families and open additional coaching and programming roles for young adults in Jacksonville.

Comstock comes to the role knowing Morgan County not as an outsider brought in to run the numbers, but as someone who has taught its children, coached its athletes and worked inside the Y itself.