For years, the courtyard has been home to different art projects, and now, is home to a few wishing trees. The magical trees can be seen from the lunchroom and courtyard windows, displaying more 200 art student’s wishes on vanilla slips of paper.
The minds behind these wishing trees, Mrs. Hope and Mrs. Bretz, were inspired by Yoko Ono’s wish tree at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Seeing how beautiful the Ono’s was, they decided to make their very own here at Penn.
PNN Reporters Ethan Derby and Wyatt Lambert, intrigued by the enchanting presence of the trees, wanted to figure out for themselves if they really did work. To get their answers, they picked a select few of the young artists who had wished on the trees, and their discoveries were nothing less than magical.
One students wish was “to be an author,” and when asked if it came true, she said “not exactly, but I did get accepted into the liberal arts program at the University of Southern Indiana with a scholarship, so I’m on my way.” Congratulations!
The homecoming king had a wish of his own as well. Ken Njihia, class of 2023, wished “to go D1 [in basketball] eventually.” When asked if it came true, he said “not yet, but it’s gonna happen.”
Another student, while admiring the beautiful trees, wished “to be happy and healthy, to go to a good college in Cali or Los Angeles, and to grow up to be an amazing person.”
Lastly, a student in impressive joker costume wished for “world peace, that I am healthy and I am happy.”
Everyone interviewed about the wishing trees either had their wish come true, or were positive about the future of it. It seems like the wishing tree really does make dreams come true.
Reah Frydrych 
Nathan Tingle 
Brandon Hall