KNOX — Growing up in Knox, Liam Hanley has been surrounded by nature, hunting and riding quads outdoors near his home, and fishing in nearby lakes.

“My dad would always take me fishing,” he said. “It’s kind of what I always knew,” he added life on the Hill.

Now, the 17-year-old Berne-Knox-Westerlo salutatorian will be taking that love of the outdoors and his skills in math and science to study environmental resource engineering at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

Hanley has lived in Knox his whole life, growing up the eldest of four siblings. In addition to his two younger sisters and one younger brother, his family also has two dogs and three cats, and Hanley has a pet tarantula.

“Some people think it’s cool,” he said, of his unusual pet, although he admits that isn’t always the case.

Hanley acquired the hairy arachnid when someone released it at Schalmont High School in Schenectady. His father, Dan Hanley, a Knox town councilman and special-education teacher at Schalmont, caught the tarantula in a Tupperware container, punched holes in the top, and brought the spider home. His son named it Boris.

Hanley said he has enjoyed being at a small school like BKW, where he can get to know his classmates, and he says he enjoys all his teachers.

“It’s been a great school to go to,” he said.

He is on the school’s National Honor Society, and plays varsity soccer, basketball, and baseball. Last year, he was also on the varsity track and field team.

“You can’t procrastinate,” he said, of his busy schedule. “I just take it day-by-day.”

Out of all the sports he plays, Hanley said his favorite is soccer.

“I always played it, since I was little,” he said. His father coached him when he was young. He then started playing at school, and now also plays in the New Scotland Soccer Club.

His best memory is likely when, after BKW lost to Middleburgh’s soccer team in the regular season, BKW returned to defeat Middleburgh in sectionals with two penalty kicks, one of which was Hanley’s.

“A lot of people say, when you take a penalty kick, there’s a lot of pressure on you,” he said. “I just have as much fun as I can.”

Another great moment for Hanley was hearing his name announced as salutatorian at a board of education meeting. Although he knew beforehand, “It was great hearing it announced,” he said.

“I’ve always wanted to be toward the top of my class,” he added. “My dad always taught me that...The better you do in high school, the more doors will be open to you when you graduate. So I wanted to keep as many of those doors open as I could.”

At the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Hanley will learn more about his major, which involves scoping out an environment to determine if a building or another project is suitable for the location. He plans to get a master’s degree in the same field before becoming a consultant.

SUNY ESF is one of the only colleges in the state that has his major. It’s a small school, he said, but is connected to the much larger Syracuse University. Although the campus has open spaces, the surrounding area of Syracuse is more congested and crowded.

“Stores and everything are close by, which is new to me,” said Hanley.

Although he’s interested in being in a new place like Syracuse, he hopes to eventually live in a place like his hometown. He’ll miss the people in the Hilltowns: his family and fellow students he grew up with, he said. He will also have to leave Boris behind.