Southeast football player Thompson returns to hometown, spurs clean up of parks

MALDEN, Mo. -- During an unusually warm and sunny afternoon in January, Malden alum Nick Thompson decided to spend a weekend home from college to give back to his community.

Thompson rallied volunteers on Facebook to join him and clean Frisco Park as well as the Martin Luther King Park in Malden on Sunday afternoon.

"This was important because some people get to a point in their lives where they are stuck in life when it comes down to growth. It happens to a lot of us actually," Thompson said. "I just want to reach out to the children and advise them with what little wisdom I do have on surviving this hectic world."

A total of seven individuals including Thompson, Mayor Denton Kooyman and even children put on their gloves and began to fill trash bags at the two parks.

"It didn't matter how many we had come out, we were going to do our deed and move forward," he said.

From children to adults, Thompson wants to encourage everyone to do their part to take care of the universe for numerous reasons as well as be a part of something productive.

Kooyman said the group spent about an hour in the two parks and were able to collect eight bags of trash.

"It wasn't a lot of trash, but it was enough to fill eight bags," he said.

A focus for the city of Malden at the moment is to clean up the town and Kooyman said having a hometown guy come back and help is great.

"As mayor this is amazing," he said. "Nick didn't want any credit for what he was doing, he just wanted to get the youth out and giving back to the town."

Thompson, a 2016 Malden High School graduate and football standout, now competes at the collegiate level at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Kooyman went on to praise Thompson's involvement with children he takes to watch SEMO games.

"He always comes out after the football games, visits with the kids and is very inspirational," he said.

Prior to the park clean up, Thompson also returned to his hometown with fellow SEMO football players to lend a hand in the tornado clean up recovery last year.

Since heading to SEMO, Thompson said he had to reach a maturity level of his own before stepping out in the community and making events like the park clean up a regular event.

"It's very important for me to be a positive role model, that's why I kind of went incognito in the town until I was ready for that responsibility as a man," he said. "I wanted them to see us giving back in this way to teach a life's lesson."