Bookroom clerk Ken Budz does more than checkout textbooks. Depending on the time of the day, you may see Budz in a number of places on campus doing a number of jobs.

“When I come to school I do traffic in the morning and traffic in the evening after school,” bookroom clerk Ken Budz said. “In between the day I do books. I’m in charge of getting the books out and getting them back. Also, to ensure that every child or every student has a book. I’m also in charge of delivering the mail and printing, setting up events, different events, throughout the school.”

But a lesser known fact is that as well as being a military veteran, Budz is an avid artist who works on art pieces of many styles including short stories and participates in art shows in his free time.

“When I do art I usually draw, I do a lot of drawings as a matter of fact, different subject matters. I like to paint when I have the opportunity to paint,” Budz said. “I also like to do yard work. I have a pretty nice little garden. I have built things like stone bridges, and I’ve built a wishing well, and I have all different kinds of flowers. I love flowers. First experience, true experience with art was in high school. I did watercolor of a football stadium for a little art contest in high school and happened to win one of the prizes, and my picture hung in the Marshall Fields window downtown in Chicago. After I returned from the service, I used the GI Bill to go to college. While I was in college, I majored in art, and one of my teachers, his name was Arthur Lerner, he was a pretty well-known artist around the world. Through his tutelage, I learned a lot of things about art. In my experience at the school, I was also asked to submit a portfolio at the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts downtown in Chicago, which I did and I got accepted to the Palette and Chisel, and so I studied a little bit there before I graduated. ”

Budz works on art in his free time and often brings it in for his co-workers to see.

“I didn’t know he was so talented with his artwork he comes in time and time to show his art work and I was pleasantly surprised at how well he was with his art, his artwork,” campus secretary Angie Bright said. “Every week he goes in and he really loves it and enjoys it, I mean his face just lights up every time he is talking about it, he does anything from live, he’ll have a still person to do as well as any objects, fruit, anything anything like that and he’ll bring it in and show us. He is very talented.”

His art style has influenced other avid artists around him.

“Well Mr. Budz has taught me a lot, he really likes to study and improve himself different drawing techniques, so I’ve learned from him and different techniques that he uses,” art teacher Pernie Fallon said.

Budz doesn’t just make art for fun as a lot of his pieces have been featured in art shows around the country.

“Some of my first experiences in art shows were at the Palette and Chisel,” Budz said. “I was able to show some of my work at the Palette and Chisel downtown. From there I went to other shows in Chicago. Then I moved to Myrtle Beach, and in Myrtle Beach I taught a education drawing and was invited to submit some of my work in some of the shows there. I also was in a few shows in North Carolina, and most recently I’ve been in a few shows here in Texas. Well it’s safe to say I’ve been doing art ever since I was a child. Art has been a part of my life. I grew up with it, and I just love it. I love it so much that it’s become a release for me from the tensions of the day, and I guess I’ll always be an artist.”