Whiz Kid: Allyson LaConte

Everything 18-year-old does revolves around kids.

She has taught dance and religious education to children, and tutored them, too.

In the fall, the Boston College freshman will study elementary education. 

This summer, on mornings at , the Park League counselor teaches arts and crafts to fourth-and fifth-grade girls and boys.

“All the things I did at high school and church ... all the main activities I’ve been involved in revolved around children,” she says.

It’s fun when she bumps into a kid in public and they are excited to see her.

“That’s the best,” she says.

Allyson is a National Honor Society member. She graduated in June from Swampscott High School.

Her favorite subjects are math and Spanish. She studied Spanish six years.

She likes dance, garlic bread and the movie 27 Dresses.

Earlier this morning at the playgrounds, she and other counselors taught children to tie-dye shirts, socks and pillow cases.

The colofrul garb hangs from a nearby fence, drying like laundry on a backyard clothes line.

Allyson is one of about a dozen counselors who care for children in the Park League's Abbott Park program.

Nearby, voices of kids at play bound outward from the basketball court.

Allyson says she is a role model and a friend to the kids.

“You can be both,” she says.

It makes her happy to be around kids.

The kids like being around her, too.

A fourth grader meanders over to Allyson as she talks about her work with children.

The morning session is almost over but the Park League child wants to spend the rest of it with her friend, Allyson.