While most of the graduates hoped for the weather to clear up, Harley Cohen and Jesse Marshall had something more pressing on their minds: the speeches they would deliver that evening, rain or shine. As the class valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, they each had the job of addressing their classmates during the graduation ceremony.

Marshall said that he wanted to be either valedictorian or salutatorian so he could give a speech.

“I basically just wanted the speech,” he said after rehearsal. “I was told that I was the first person ever to submit their speech that early.”

For Cohen, she hoped to bolster her college applications. She and Marshall knew from the beginning of the school year that they’d be vying for the two honors.

“(Cohen) destroyed me by, like, a point and a half,” Marshall said.

“We both get the same diplomas,” Cohen replied.

Cohen is the daughter of Dylan Cohen and Vikki Michalios of Keene Valley. At LPHS, she participated in varsity Nordic skiing, varsity cross country, varsity track and field, the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit, student council, Interact Club, National Honor Society and jazz band. She said that Nordic skiing and the climate summit were her favorite activities.

“I really liked my team. I liked being the team ski waxer,” she said. “(At the climate summit) I felt like I was a part of something bigger. I got to be a part of planning this huge event every year for youth to come together and talk about climate-related stuff.”

Marshall, the son of Matthew and Annette Marshall of Lake Placid, was also busy at LPHS, participating in varsity soccer, varsity track and field, student council, National Honor Society, chorus, select ensemble, the fall production of “Radium Girls” and the Broadway showcase. His favorite activity, however, was Winter Carnival.

“It bonds the grade through trials and tribulations, highs and lows. It is just so much fun, and if you’ve never gone through it, you can’t explain it,” Marshall said.

He added that he also loved the bonding that happens during team sports. Cohen noted that there’s a lot of crossover between the cross country and track and field teams and the music department.

Both students completed capstone projects focused on sustainability and plan to study the environment after high school. Cohen’s project was about sustainable feminine hygiene products, and Marshall focused on learning to cook sustainably with local ingredients.

In the fall, Cohen is attending the University of California, Santa Barbara for environmental science, and she said she hopes to “take that down a public health route.”

“I really just want to learn, hang out on the beach, have fun. I’m very excited and very honored to say that I’m going to Santa Barbara,” she said.

Marshall, who said he’s “not usually” a planner, will attend a Christian gap year program in Massena and then study arboriculture and landscape management at North Country Community College and Paul Smith’s College. His ultimate goal is to open a nursery called Granny’s Gardens in 2032.

“I thought of the end steps first and then worked my way backward,” he said.

Before college, though, is summer break, which both students plan to spend working — Marshall at Lake Placid Flower and Gift and Cohen at Simply Gourmet’s bakery.

Ahead of Friday evening’s graduation ceremony, the pair gave kudos to their friends and peers for support.

“I’m going to shout out Jameson Batt for all the support he’s given me through my speech writing and just always being there to have fun gaming,” Marshall said.

“I think the band needs a shoutout, just for being with us at graduation,” Cohen said. “Everyone in the band, they need a shoutout.”

For Cohen, her time at LPHS has taught her to be confident and unique.

“I really like how Lake Placid fosters this sense of individuality and makes you feel comfortable with who you are. I find I have the confidence to just talk to these people about pretty much everything — get personal with them, get real with them,” she said. “Here, everyone just wants to accept each other pretty much for anything.”

Marshall said the close-knit nature of LPHS was the best part of his education.

“My favorite thing about this school is because of how small it is, you get to know your classmates really well, as well as the teachers. I’ll be talking to students from other schools and they don’t have the relationship with their teachers as we do. We can have fun with them, joke around, get in trouble and we know them enough that we can tease them enough that they won’t start screaming at us,” he said. “We know them at a personal level.