What is Melinda's assignment for art class?

In Part I, the teacher, Mr. Freeman, is eccentric but exciting. He explains that the students will be responsible for a yearlong art project in which they will portray a single object through different artistic mediums. The goal of the assigment is to imbue the object with emotion and “soul.” The students will select their object by pulling a scrap of paper from a broken globe. Melinda picks the word “tree.”