Focus on Walter Nalywayko, resort's activities director (03/07/04)

Focus on Walter Nalywayko, resort's activities director

Walter Nalywayko, 33, joined the Soyuzivka staff during the Memorial Day weekend last year as the resort's activities director. According to the resort's general manager, Nestor Paslwasky, Mr. Nalywayko came highly recommended and has a long history with the resort.

Mr. Nalywayko, who proudly admits having walked nearly every inch of Soyuzivka's property, has been tasked with providing a variety of activities for guests staying at the resort.

In his role there, Mr. Nalywayko will oversee summer camps, a variety of sports activities and a host of outdoor activities, such as hiking, climbing and kayaking. But Mr. Nalywayko has also said he is open to any new ideas guests may have so that he can provide fresh and exciting activities for the resort's visitors.

He is actively working on Soyuzivka's new Nature Center, which is to be located by the Veselka gazebo, and told The Weekly about preliminary plans for horseback riding and wine and cheese hikes on the resort's property.

Prior to taking his current job at the UNA resort, Mr. Nalywayko worked as an equities trader for DS Partners on Wall Street in New York. He left that job shortly after 9/11 and said he moved to Montana in order to "heal my soul and perfect my mountainsmith techniques."

Born in Lancaster, Pa., he has been coming to the resort since he was a year old and has worked summers there from 1989 to 1991. Currently, Mr. Nalywayko is taking courses toward his Emergency Management Technician certification and has attended a two-week survival school in Canada.

Mr. Nalywayko is a graduate of the State University of New York in New Paltz, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in early American and Soviet histories.

During his college years Mr. Nalywayko lived in Alaska, and after graduating in 1995 he moved to Breckenridge, Colo.

Mr. Nalywayko was contacted about working at the resort as its activities director after his cousin, Serhiy, turned down the job in order to work at the Culinary Institute of America.

Mr. Nalywayko notes that he is or has been: a carpenter, a woodcarver specializing in the Hutsul style, a snowboarder and a manager of a snowboarding shop, a wildlife and scenic photographer, a Jeep enthusiast, a survival and firearms expert, as well as a hunter, fisherman, political philosopher and historian.

He also told The Weekly that he is currently writing a history of Soyuzivka, a collection of stories and memoirs of his time at the resort and a fictional spy thriller.

"What I have now is the realization of my dream job. Here, I can be outside, bring others outdoors and share my experiences and knowledge with them. Also, I get to utilize my creative side, retelling local folklore, using my photos for ads, and building the new nature center and hockey rink," Mr. Nalywayko said.

- Andrew Nynka

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