Columbia Falls senior Laney Conger said the landscape that surrounds her was definitely an influence in her future career choice. She’ll graduate tops in the Class of 2020 with a weighted grade point average of 4.26.

She’s been accepted to Stanford University, where she’ll join her sister, Annabelle, who is a junior there. Laney is the daughter of Barry and Krista Conger.

Conger said her studies will focus on environmental studies and research. Hiking in and around Glacier National Park over the years has helped inspire that.

“It’s a gorgeous place and there’s a lot of opportunity for research and activism,” she said. She’s been active in sustainability locally. She particularly enjoyed a course on the subject taught by high school science teacher Erin Quintia.

The coronavirus has had an environmental impact — the air is now cleaner, giving the world insight to what can happen if we switch to renewable energy.

“We’ve seen what happened if we all work together,” she said.

On the downside, the coronavirus crisis has created a household where everyone is on the Internet — Annabelle came home to finish up her studies online as well. Sometimes, Laney said she just needs to bandwidth to herself, especially during advanced placement testing — she decided to take a full course load her senior year.

Conger admits she wasn’t exactly looking forward to the last few months of attending high school. But after about three weeks of studying at home, she said she misses the place.

“It was the small things we didn’t get to experience,” she said. “It was a bummer.”

On the last day of classes, her English teacher Nia Vestal suggested she check out five big books.

“Because you might not be coming back,” Vestal warned.

Conger took the advice. She’s been reading “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant. The novel tells a Biblical tale, from the perspective of a woman. Conger reads about 30 books a year.

Conger was on the state championship speech and debate team. While the state of the world can be a downer, Conger said she still has optimism.

“I do have hope, It’ a timid hope, a cautious hope,” she said. “But with the right changes we can really see a difference.”