They rose to the top of their class of 40 students by working hard and achieving their goals one step at a time.

Wright, 17, is originally from Syracuse and transferred to the Lake Placid Central School District when he was in fourth grade. He was a founding member of the school’s robotics team as an eighth grader, and he’s now the team captain. He’s also the president of the school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. Wright plays for the school’s varsity soccer team, varsity basketball team and played for the school’s varsity golf team in 10th and 11th grade. Wright helped to found the school’s investment club in 11th grade, which is now dissolved.

Scanio, 17, is a lifelong Lake Placidian. He is the captain of the school’s varsity cross country running team after being on the team since ninth grade. He also competes with the school’s varsity Nordic skiing and track teams. He’s president of the school drama club this year, participating in musical theater, chorus and band throughout his high school years. He’s a National Honor Society member and a boy scout on his way to becoming an eagle scout.

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Early challenges

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The high school experience for Wright and Scanio had an interesting start — they were freshmen when the coronavirus pandemic first swept the nation. Scanio remembers hearing the news that school was set to go online in the middle of March 2020, just one day after he returned to Lake Placid from a junior nationals cross-country skiing competition in California. He said the pandemic was an “unexpected turn of events” in his high school experience.

Sitting at home and doing schoolwork online was hard for Scanio — while the experience improved his typing skills, he said he suffered from headaches and eye pain from staring at a screen all day long, along with the challenge of constantly sharing space with his two brothers.

“It was definitely tough,” Scanio said.

Wright said the sudden switch from in-person classes to online learning — and a few more switches back and forth after that — tested students’ ability to adapt to change. But Wright and Scanio said they felt luckier than other high schoolers during the pandemic because LPCSD went back to in-person classes in fall 2020, which they said was a lot sooner than some of their friends in other districts.

But things at the high school haven’t completely gone back to “normal,” they said — most of their homework is still online, and even some of their tests have remained virtual.

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Senior projects

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Each LPCSD senior is required to complete a capstone project to graduate, and Wright and Scanio chose projects based on their personal interests.

Wright combined his love of sports and robotics by hosting community-building sporting tournaments to raise money for the robotics club. He’s organizing volleyball, badminton and pickleball tournaments that have drawn community members from LPCSD’s administration and beyond. He’s already raised about $1,500 for the club, with more tournaments coming down the pike.

The robotics club needs around $11,000 each year, Wright said — in part to fund its participation in the national robotics competition, which starts with a qualifying regional competition in Albany. The club’s budget also helps fund parts for the 4-foot-tall robot members build each year to enter into the competition. This year, Wright said the club is building a robot with a claw that can place cones and cubes on a platform. Wright said he’s also done some grant writing for the club as part of his senior project.

Scanio’s senior project blends community service with self-improvement. He’s currently going to Lake Placid Elementary school, Nordic skis in tow, to teach elementary schoolers about the sport and let them try on some skis. He plans on doing the same with cross country running once spring comes.

Scanio also wants to ski and run the Jackrabbit Trail from Paul Smiths to Keene — about a 40-mile trek — in a single day. He was partially inspired to make the journey by his ski coach. Scanio said his coach talks about the Jackrabbit all the time, and the young skier wanted to test his own limits. Scanio regularly earns top titles for Lake Placid in ski competitions, but they’re typically distances between 5K (3.1 miles) and 10K (6.2 miles).

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So long, Lake Placid

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Wright has learned a lot about work ethic in his years at Lake Placid Middle High School. He said he’s good at math and science, but he’s always struggled with reading and writing. Throughout the years, he pushed to better himself and ended up growing fond of English and composition-related work. He said that if he could go back and give his ninth-grade self a piece of advice, he’d tell himself to set achievable goals and attack them one by one.

Through his high school experiences, Scanio said he learned to be prepared for anything. A lot will be thrown at you in high school, he said — the coronavirus pandemic is a good example of that — but like Wright, Scanio said all you can do is take each challenge one step at a time.

This fall, Wright will head to Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca while Scanio will attend St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, to ski for the college’s Division II cross country running team and Nordic ski team. Wright and Scanio said they aren’t sure exactly what they want to major in yet, but they’ve got a few years to figure that out.

Wright and Scanio said transitioning from small-town life in Lake Placid to bigger populations in Ithaca and Colchester could be tough, but they’re looking forward to the change of pace. And, as evidenced by their success in high school, they’re always up for a challenge.