Every year, Lake Placid’s graduating class caps off their last year in school with senior projects. Students have to dedicate at least 30 hours to their project, and whatever they choose to do has to fall into set categories, such as community service or self-improvement. Lawrence, 17, has chosen to build two benches for students from scratch.

Lawrence hopes to donate the benches to the school and have them placed outside, facing the High Peaks, so students can sit there and eat lunch. Right now, students eat while sitting on the ground, according to Lawrence.

He’s gotten some help from his dad, who’s a caretaker for some properties and has experience with building.

“My dad and I are just doing this as a project together,” Lawrence said. “Before I leave for college, this is the last project we’re doing together.”

Lawrence describes himself as an “outdoorsy person.” He’s in the natural resource science program at BOCES, he does ski jumping in the winter — he was one of three students who got to be one of the first jumpers to test out the newly rebuilt 120- and 90-meter towers at the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex last year — and he’s done track since the seventh grade. In the fall, he plans to attend the University of New Hampshire and major in environmental conservation with a minor in wildlife biology.

Lawrence said he knew that he wanted to build something for his senior project. He didn’t have much experience building furniture before this, so he saw this as an opportunity to improve his skills.

In his class at BOCES, Lawrence learned that cedar trees have a natural resistance to moisture because of their oils and acids, so he decided to use cedar as his material, along with pine.

In January, he felled trees from his friend’s property and milled the pine. Using equipment his family already had — a chainsaw and angle grinder — he’s been working on the benches for months. He started out working in a garage, but later got permission to work in a storage area at the Uihlein Farm.

Between school and track, Lawrence stays busy — he usually only has Sundays off, he said. But he’s nearly done with both benches and plans to coat them with a clear coat of shellac before giving them to the school.

Lawrence hasn’t decided what exactly he wants to do after graduating college. Being a hunting and fishing guide is his dream job, and he’s considered being a forest ranger or conservation officer. He doesn’t know whether he plans to live in the Adirondacks again or try living out west. But he’s got plenty of time.

“I’ve still got four years,” he said. “A lot might change until then.”