Lauralee Summer '98 never had many toys. But the girl who moved 20 times before her mid-teens did have a lot of cardboard boxes, which she flipped over, creating an instant set of "desks" for her own small school.

Those games of school, and the mental toughness she developed as one of the top six women wrestlers in the nation, will serve Summer well in her planned career: teaching at-risk kids in an urban, public junior high school.

"I really believe they need good teachers," says the woman who freely admits that she "hated junior high" but wants to better the experience for others.

Her mother, Elizabeth Summer, who helped her kindergartner put up signs advertising her "school," is understandably unsurprised to learn that her daughter wants to teach.

"To her, it was really serious," she says about her daughter's earliest teaching efforts, noting that neighborhood kids were ready and willing to sit at those desks.

But before she heads off to grab a masters of education to add to her A.B. in children's studies (a special concentration she designed herself), Summer will take next year off to expand her creative thesis into a book on her childhood, including the periods during which she was homeless.

For most of her life, Summer and her mother were on their own. When she was in the fourth and eighth grades, Summer and her mother were homeless.

Summer says her mother was always struggling to keep them afloat financially.

"The fact that she was there for me my whole life was really key. She always was teaching me things and listened to me when I was a kid," she says. "My mom's amazing."

Many people would use the word "amazing" to describe Summer, whose wide-ranging interests led one of her friends to do a photographic project for the Visual and Environmental Studies department, with captions from her ownwriting about homes and her experiences as awrestler.

However, the athletic and public service worldsare not the only realms in which Summer has beenactive at Harvard: she was also co-chair of theBisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender andSupporters' Alliance (BGLTSA).

During her tenure, she was known among themembers for her kindness and her tact, accordingto fellow board member and roommate of three yearsAlena J. Williams '98.

Williams, who notes that she and Summer havenever had a serious disagreement in three yearsrooming together, says Summer was a valuableaddition to the board.

"She was good at putting things inperspective," Williams says. "Some of us werehotheaded, and she was really calm."

However, Summer does have a breaking point, andwhen she reached it, Williams says the whole boardtook note and re-evaluated.

"At the point when Lauralee got mad, thingswere really, really bad," she laughs.