Contest winner is a sign of success

WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - The judges for a sign contest for The Impossible Dream playground had no idea their choice would be a perfect ‘sign’ but it seems to be just that.

The privately owned, non-profit Warwick playground needed a sign to match the fun children of all abilities are having there. There are swings and a sandbox that allow wheelchair access, a mini golf course with slightly wider ‘fairways’ and it all sits on a rubberized surface just in case a child might not be as steady on their feet as other kids.

The Impossible Dream decided to take their idea for a sign design contest up the street to the vo-tech program at Tollgate High School known as the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center . 17 students from Warwick, West Warwick and East Greenwich entered with a colorful collection of ideas.

“When I made the rainbow, it represents the children,” West Warwick Senior Anthony Bright explained, pointing to his design. “The cloud represents, it’s like a dream for the children.”

Bright could barely draw when he entered the program three years ago.

“Stick figures,” he said. “Mostly stick figures.”

And his teacher Jann Gartner said he was ready to give up.

“He was frustrated. He’d get up and say I don’t think I can do this. And I said, keep trying.”

And he did. 3 years later, he entered the contest with confidence. He hand drew a design, converted it to a computerized version and then put his work up against his classmates.

Just getting that far was especially remarkable for Bright whose parents were told to expect 'nothing' when Anthony was just a baby.

“They said he would just be drooling in a corner,” Anthony Bright Sr. said about his son’s ‘potential’ when he was an infant. “They didn’t expect him to learn. They didn’t expect him to talk at all.”

The Impossible Dream sign contest judges had no idea who Anthony Bright was. They did not know he played at the playground when he was about 6 or that he had come so far in Gartner's class. And here is one more fact the judges were unaware of as they looked over the entries.  

“I never told anyone I’m autistic,” Anthony said.

By now, you probably figured out who won.

“It will make me very happy that my name will on part of the sign,” Anthony said.

His teacher, who happens to be one of his biggest fans, said Anthony just about exploded with excitement when he was told his sign was voted the best.

"He's come a long way," Gartner said. “It shows it doesn’t matter as long as you have drive,”

Anthony’s proud father put it best.

“When he won the impossible dream, it was like an impossible dream.”

Now, it is a possible dream and maybe a sign that the judges made the right choice.