How did Melinda change as a student?

Melinda is able to find meaning through Mr. freeman and his art class. He assigns his students a yearlong project in which they must work with a single object for the entirety of the class. Mr. Freeman is a talented artist and teacher who is angered by the school board's stifling of his class. He is the only person in Melinda’s life to notice her depression and to encourage her to tell her story, something that Melinda eventually does do for him at the end of the novel. Melinda is able to express herself and her pain through art. This gives her the confidence and emotional release to be a better student.