President of the National English Honor Society. Winner of the Gold and Silver Key in the Scholastic Art & Writing Competition. Enthusiast of poetry and writing and stories. Advocate of art and music. Speaker of three languages: English, Spanish, and Polish, his native language. Meet Kuba Bard, the senior with an undeniable love for words. 

Similar to most other teenagers, Bard enjoys casual hiking, cycling, playing basketball or soccer and listening to music. Unlikely, however, is Bard’s devotion to writing, including poetry, short stories and novels. Bard is involved in many activities within school regarding English, one of which includes holding the position of the 2020-2021 National English Honor Society President. 

“In high school, I noticed that I like to play with words, especially during my English class,” Kuba said. “Hearing or seeing good stories unfold, conveyed either through movies or novels, gives me great joy. I joined NEHS because I wanted to engage with a community and honor society that fosters passion in the English language. By being [the] president, I hope to cultivate interest in English. I also hope to set lasting traditions like the poetry competition and the poetry slide.”

In addition to leading the honor society, Bard enjoys creating his own work, such as poetry. He is currently working on his poetry book he started during sophomore year, however, he said he is unsure when he will finish it. 

“Writing poetry helped me cope with all the difficulties of high school, such a lack of time to utilize my creativity because of an overabundance of homework,” Bard said. “I also wrote poems about success, friendship, and idealization. Many of the poems I wrote when my mind was drowning in a happy melancholy. I often use poems to resolve conflict and convey my thoughts or opinions on subjects.”

According to Bard, his fascination with English began at a young age, and he found himself drawn to the language because of its global connection. Even in Poland, Bard said there was a time when he found himself wanting to buy books only written in English.

“[My passion for English was sparked by] primarily my desire to write stories and have a way to communicate my stories to others,” Bard said. “I also find it very fun to play with language: playing with words, telling the stories, coming up with new ideas.”

At the start of this year, Bard participated in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition, winning both the Silver Key award for his drawing, named “The Crumpled Letter Was Signed, ‘Love, Herbert’” and an Honorable Mention for his photo, “Night Steps onto an Empty Beach.” Other accomplishments of Bard’s include: Being awarded the Gold Key for his art piece, “Time, Time, Time;” the Silver Key for his memoir, “My Galloping Horse;” and Honorable Mentions for both his poem, “What I heard You Say,” and art piece, “Colonization.”

“I was pretty happy [about winning the awards],” Bard said. “I want the audience to derive meaning from my art and even if they just want to look at it, I want them to have a positive reaction to the art if it’s something that they would enjoy seeing. I want the people that are into that type of artistic work to appreciate what I’ve created, and for them to possibly derive meaning from the artwork.”

Bard’s winning drawing illustrated a swan shooting at ducks surrounded by dogs. At the swan’s feet, there is a broken heart and a torn picture of another swan with small details within the larger drawing. Bard creates his art with pen, graphite and colored pencil while listening to music. 

“I found it really interesting how some people project their feelings onto others when they’re angry, like in this case, the swan is angry so he comes out to shoot the ducks,” Bard said. “He’s [projecting his] anger onto others, and he even teams up with the dogs to aid him in his venture, and all of that happened because of that crumpled letter. His relationship with someone, [created this] broken-hearted swan, and swans are usually a symbol of love. He is basically disheartened and he decides to shoot the ducks out of spite.”

As for the photo, Bard took the picture of beach houses at Galveston where his family traveled for a family vacation last year.  

“For most of the day, we just went out to the beach [and] enjoyed the weather and experienced that natural phenomenon that you don’t appreciate every day,” Bard said. “It’s so wonderful: the night strolling onto the beach at the end of the day. A portrait of the house on the empty beach is an embodiment of solitude like standing in solitude because there were no people on the beach at the time.”

Photography plays an important role in Bard’s life, as he said he takes photos to remember everything. 

“I remember objects, events, [things] that you would forget after time passes; memories can change,” Bard said. “[Sometimes] I wake up after having a dream, and after that dream I’m not sure if it happened in real life [or in the vision]. I think it’s important to have those pictures of certain events because you know that actually was happening at some point.”

In addition to writing stories and poetry, Bard enjoys listening to alt-rock and metal music, such as Placebo, System of a Down and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as playing the guitar.

“In terms of Placebo, some of the songs seem very expressive and there’s a lot of emotions there,” Bard said. “It’s like a mix of nostalgia and melancholy, [and it’s nice] to maybe sit and draw and write [and] melt into the sound. [System of a Down] just wakes you up and energizes you.” 

As for his future, Bard has committed to The University of Texas at Austin and plans to study Arts and Entertainment Technologies with a minor in languages, either English or Spanish. As for his novels, Bard plans to continue writing in his free time.

“From those majors, I hope to later have a [degree] in animation for video games or movies and on the side just write,” Bard said. “I always enjoyed playing video games and watching animated movies, and this field would allow me to employ my creativity and art skills. There’s a lot of art uncertainty and about writing, writing novels for example, and if it’s gonna support you throughout your life, so I’m going to write novels on the side.”