Students and faculty have just the ticket for raising money for a new NIU scholarship.

Raffle tickets are being sold through next week at the Holmes Student Center and Wirtz Hall to build funds for the Brian Deets Endowed Scholarship Award. Deets was a senior accounting major killed in a car accident during his daily commute to NIU in February.

“The idea to make a scholarship in Deets’ name came from a group of faculty members who were closely connected with him,” said Glenn Richards, assistant raffle manager. “They formed a committee of five faculty members and six or seven students to come up with ways to raise money for the scholarship. The raffle was their first idea.

“In order to create the scholarship, we have to raise $10,000 in the next two years,” Richards said. “We have already secured direct donations and have raised 40 percent of the money.”

Raffles will be held from 12:30 to 4 p.m. today and Thursday at the student center outside the Blackhawk Lounge, and from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Friday, Monday and Tuesday at Wirtz Hall. Tickets cost $1 each, and the grand-prize winner gets 50 percent of the money raised.

The final drawing will be held at 3:30 p.m. May 2 at Wirtz Hall, Room 258, said Jayne Davis, raffle manager. The winner will be notified by phone or e-mail.

Deets was a model student, Richards said.

“He had a 4.0 grade average and tutored students with disabilities in his free time,” he said. “He was also a member of Beta Alpha Psi and very involved in his church. He was killed on a Friday morning on the way to class. It wasn’t even his fault.”

Accounting students interested in selling tickets in Deets’ memory should go to Wirtz Hall, Room 258, Richards said.

The raffle, he added, includes more than just donating to a good cause.

“The winner gets to start off the summer with some extra cash,” he said.