Fourteen students and several adults worked in a Little Dixie Self Help Housing Program house at Bennington Friday, but these were not local students. They were from Summit Christian Academy at Cedar Park, Texas.

The students, who are all high school sophomores, were part of the academy’s program Impact Education. Ginger Lambert, director and creator of the program, said Impact Education gives seventh- through 12th-graders at the academy a chance to serve others. The school is writing their own curriculum for the program, which it hopes will be used by other schools.

“In a Christian school, our goal is to be like Christ who served others,” Lambert said. She said when people ask them why they help out, they say it is because of who they follow.

Each grade goes on a trip to a different area, with seniors getting to serve internationally, Lambert said. The sophomores for the last four years have served in the Durant area and generally work with Little Dixie Community Action Agency Inc.

She said students have to raise their own money to attend the trips. To come serve in the Durant area, it costs each student between $250-$300.

Students also have to prepare their own food and clean up after themselves.

At night, the adult leaders have a debriefing session with the students. This year, Lambert said one student told the others that if they all worked together they could accomplish a lot.

The program helps the students learn to work as a team, she said.

Lambert said they planned on visiting local sites in Oklahoma, such as the Hugo cemetery with circus tombstones and Beavers Bend.

About half of the students were in theatre and had just finished the play, “Fiddler on the Roof.” They had decided to learn how to sing “Oklahoma” while they were visiting the state and could be heard singing while on site.

The students worked at two different sites this year. On Thursday, they painted interior walls and stained cabinets in a home at Roberta, said Terri Harless, Self Help Housing program director. Then on Friday, they put up insulation in a new home at Bennington.

“You can not say enough about them,” Harless said. “They are more than willing to do anything to help us out.”

Originally the students were supposed to paint outside, but the weather made them change their plans.

Lambert said the homeowner benefits from the students, because the students are doing the owner’s labor on the house for a day.

She said Little Dixie operates the Hugo Lake Cabins and Marina, which is where the students get to stay while helping out.

“They are not bashful kids. Really outgoing, friendly, polite,” Lambert said. “We will welcome them back every year.”