Community Corner

Chatham Teen Selected for Tourette Ambassador

High school student will help educate peers about the syndrome.

Each year, the Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc. (TSA) selects about 125 teenagers from throughout the country, both with and without Tourette Syndrome (TS), to become youth ambassadors for the disease. This year, one of Chatham's own will join their ranks.

Sarah Ethridge, 14, will travel to Washington, D.C. on April 18 and 19 to go through TSA's Youth Ambassador Training Program. The Chatham High School student submitted an application and edday about her motivation.

Once she completes her training, Ethridge will return to New Jersey and visit classes, schools and clubs to teach other local children about TS and encourage tolerance and sensitivity to the syndrome.

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Carole Ethridge, Sarah's mother, will also participte in the training. She said, "This is a huge honor and formidable task for anyone, much less a teenager living with TS."

Students both with and without TS are selected for the training every year. Afterwards, they "meet with politicians, appear in the media and assist with fundraising and awareness raising campaigns," according to a press statement from the TSA.

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The program was founded by Jennifer Zwilling, 22. The goal, she said, is "to educate children all over the country about TS, a widely misunderstood disorder. We are following the motto ‘think globally, act locally’.”

Part of the Youth Ambassador training includes meeting with senators and congressmen to teach them about the challenges if living with TS.


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