From a very young age, Vika Kubrak has had an interesting life, living in the U.S. and Ukraine. Ukraine is vastly different from the U.S. with Kubrak’s home being different than what we are used to. “I used to live some distance from the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, so our climate is softer, without rapid [weather] changes during the day,” said Kubrak.
There are many differences between Ukraine and the United States. Kubrak’s life at home was a community. “I understand people who I have grown up with the best. We have a saying: ‘Every place is good, but the home is the best of all.’ That is true. I miss my home and the country, [even] with all their failures. Ukraine has a very beautiful nature just like the United States,” said Kubrak.
Kubrak has both vision and hearing difficulties which is very rare and only has a 3 in 100,000 chance of happening. Despite her disadvantages, Kubrak has developed many talents. “I have a natural talent and feeling of beauty and color. I relate myself to the category of people who see and feel art and want to make it a part of their lives.”
Kubrak has a wild imagination and she shows that through art. “Usually I never know what I want to draw, paint, sculpt, or write about. There are a lot of ideas dancing in my head, so I struggle to point one of them out. This stage is when you have hundreds of ideas and cannot decide which one goes first. Sometimes I get ideas from observing, sometimes I get them from reading.” Kubrak makes amazing art, and is currently working on a project in Art Seminar in which she is sculpting an amazingly detailed horse head.
Kubrak has faced a lot of hardships due to her disadvantages and moving to a new home, yet she has taken her strengths and made great things from them. Kubrak is incredible, one of the most remarkable people in the school, and has accomplished so many amazing things—all before graduating high school.
