BIGGERSVILLE – Had it not been for their summer jobs, Nick Knight and Caleb Barnett probably would have been sitting at home with nothing much to do.

But the 15-year-olds landed much-coveted gigs that paid $7.25 an hour. Knight bought a car with his earnings while Barnett picked up a kayak.

“It was kind of a learning experience, too,” said Knight. “I didn’t know so many little things could make such a big difference.”

Knight was among several students who worked at Biggersville High School for the past six weeks, participating in the “Summer Coin Crew” program administered by Three Rivers Planning and Development District.

The students painted, cleaned floors, moved furniture and otherwise stayed busy.

As part of the federal stimulus package, more than $4 million was allocated to Three Rivers to use for a summer youth employment project.

It was the first such project in the region in about a decade, officials said.

“People might not know where some of that stimulus money went, but we know where this money went,” said Roger Browning, who was the program director for Three Rivers.

Browning said $3.5 million had been spent since the program started June 15, with more than 1,300 youths having worked in various jobs across the 27-county area covered by Three Rivers.

The remaining money will be used to retain some workers at job sites who have asked for them to stay on as long as possible.

At Biggersville, participants in the program said summer jobs were hard to come by until the “Summer Coin Crew” came along.

Knight said he “probably would have had nothing to do” had he not applied for and gotten the job.

The same goes for Brandon Hilburn, who’s going to be a freshman at Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville in the fall. But the job enabled him to save some much-needed money to pay for college expenses.

“I thought it was very good program. And we did a lot of painting,” he said with a smile. “A lot.”

BHS Principal Gary Johnson said the work of the students was much appreciated.

“They were able to do things that we didn’t have the manpower to do,” he said.

Dee Dee Brown, who was the Alcorn County coordinator for the Summer Coin program, said she had youths working in more than a dozen places.

“Some had clerical positions, some worked at the Boys and Girls Club as interns ... there were many jobs available,” she said.

In fact, Browning said, more than 10,000 people applied for the 1,350 jobs. Some positions were full-time while others were part-time.

And Browning said that some businesses indicated they planned to keep their workers after the program ends.

“It’s been a very worthwhile project that benefited a lot of people,” he said.