Meet Your Neighbor
Alison Wypycha
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent

Date of birth June 22, 1984

Likes most about Nantucket That you can get most everywhere by bicycle and that people wave to one another.

Likes least about Nantucket That it takes planning and extra money to go to a mall or other mainland attraction.

Favorite TV show Law and Order. It does not take Alison Wypycha long to memorize your name, your favorite sandwich or whether you are a working person on a lunch break who needs a little extra fast service. That is what makes her one of the friendliest and most appreciated of the altogether pleasant staff at Cowboy's Market, a place she enjoys for her spirited colleagues and all the people she gets to know on a regular basis.

Born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., Wypycha earned an associate's degree in hospitality management from Trocaire College in Buffalo and a bachelor's degree in sports and recreation management from Niagra University. During her junior year at Niagra she did an internship at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., working in the petting zoo.

"I love animals," said Wypycha. "It was awesome."

Wypycha said she contemplated graduate school, but the reality of student loans coming due squashed that desire, at least temporarily. In thinking about what jobs to pursue, she talked with her brother who had previously been employed at a Martha's Vineyard youth hostel. Wypycha applied to Hostel International and was chosen for a 2006 summer position at Nantucket's Star of the Sea hostel in Surfside. She had never been to the island before.

"That's how I got here," she said. "I lived in an attic that was so tiny. We had no TV. It was the best experience ever."

To supplement the low wages hostels pay, Wypycha answered an ad for staff at Cowboy's and, aided by her meat cutting experience at grocery stores in Buffalo, she was hired, holding down both jobs that first summer. In the fall she shuffled off to Buffalo to see her family, all of whom live there now except her brother, who is a teacher with the Peace Corps living in Belize. Wypycha investigated work in her hometown, but nothing struck her fancy. After spending Thanksgiving at her grandmother's, she accepted the Cowboy's owner's invitation to return to Nantucket.

"I decided to stay because I'd met lots of friends and my boyfriend," she explained. "It's a fun place to live if you're young, and it's not like people can't come here to visit - my dad is coming here soon - and to get out of Buffalo is a big thing, too."

When Wypycha is not working she enjoys spending time with friends, walking her boyfriend's two dogs in scenic, out-of-town spots, riding her bike, reading gossip magazines and being a member of the hand bell choir at St. Paul's Church.

"I've met a lot of people [at church] who have been here longer than I have and are established and so nice," she said. "They invite me to things - pot lucks, meetings. It's a lot of fun."

Being as young as she is, Wypycha still has plenty of time for dreams of the future. She would like to travel more and go back to college to study zoology. Otherwise, except for the importance of staying in almost daily communication with her family, her wishes are pretty grounded and make realistic sense.

"I just want to be happy in a comfortable living style and get up every morning and think, 'This is what I want to do.' Even if I don't make a ton of money - I don't need a new car every year - I just want to be comfortable," she said. "I just like

to be happy." I