Seven fourth-graders from Wilkes Elementary School planted a Thought Tree in the Winslow Mall as part of this year’s Destination Imagination Service Learning competition.

The tree, which is made out of PVC pipe and brown and green duct tape, has an anti-bullying theme.

“It was a problem that no one has stepped up to solve and no one has really talked about it and no one has really made an effort to stop it,” explained team member Hanah Deets.

“We thought why don’t we make a stepping stone to reach the goal to stop bullying. And that stepping stone is to reach awareness.”

Passerby shared their thoughts, feelings and experiences about bullying by adding a purple leaf to the tree, which was stationed near the steps leading to the second floor of the mall, from Thursday, Feb. 25 through Saturday, March 5.

Hanah and her teammates, Maya Fletcher, Addison Gall, Natascha Helfrecht-Kannady, Arianna Hord, Francesca Russo and Isabelle Soltanzadeh hosted a table outside the Thought Tree during the art walk, to answer any questions and encourage participation.

So far, Hanah said, they’re pretty happy with the community responses.

“I’ve read some of them,” she said. “Some of the stories are… Who would do something like that? Someone had a story when someone threw their possessions on the cafeteria floor.

“Bullying is wrong and everybody said that in a different way. Like, use the Golden Rule.”