ST. JOSEPH, Ill. (WCIA) — In October, Illinois State Trooper Corey Thompsen tragically died in a motorcycle accident. Now, his hometown of St. Joseph is making sure his legacy is one of opportunity for others.

On Monday, St. Joseph Middle School held a fundraising event during the school’s volleyball game to support the Trooper Thompsen Scholarship Fund.

Volleyball coach Jill Lubinski said Thompsen remains engraved and endeared within the St. Joseph community.

“He was a student at our school. His wife was a student at our school. His mother is a teacher at our school. So there are a lot of personal connections to our school family,” Lubinski said. “So this is just a way that we are able to do something and give back to them.”

28-year-old Trooper Corey Thompsen was finishing a traffic enforcement detail in October when his motorcycle was hit by a truck. He later died at the hospital.

People could support the scholarship in his honor in multiple ways, including participating in a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle, buying t-shirts and more.

For teacher and organizer Steve Svendsen, the community turnout was simply amazing.

“This is just showing us St. Jo and the kind of community we live in,” Svendsen said. “When something like this happens, people step up.”

All proceeds of the night will go directly to one graduating student from St. Joseph-Ogden High School who is planning to follow in Officer Thompsen’s footsteps and study criminal justice in the future.

“These things happen. And as a result, we now have something that we can do to memorialize Corey,” Svendsen said. “And I think that’s just an amazing thing to do because he was such an important part of our community, and we can remember it this way.”

Organizers are still working out how students will be able to apply and how the winner will be picked.