the next episode in our 21 digital film series is now online the series examines the simple question of does where you live in the state affect how you live 21 profiles one person in each of our 21 counties and looks at the social determinants that affect that person's life the latest film introduces us to Anna Baldwin the Gloucester County native embraced her journey with tette syndrome and has been educating others since her initial diagnosis in sixth grade through soccer and the top sports program she found Refuge a space to connect with and Inspire special needs children encouraging them to embrace their uniqueness she emphasizes the importance of focusing on the person beyond their diagnosis Brianna Baldwin talked with Brianna take a look Brianna what a pleasure to get to talk to you why do you think at such a young age you were able to not just embrace your diagnosis with Tourette's but also make it your mission to raise awareness among others I think that I saw the need for it and I also knew that I had to look out for my little brother you know he had the same diagnosis and I wanted to kind of pave the way for him what do you think people don't know I mean you talked about um having this part of your your body and and your brain that that were not under your control what do you think are the misconceptions for folks who don't know much about it a lot of people when they hear about Tourette's they think that it's just cursing and that you know it's for attention and I really want them to understand that well yes sometimes there is the cursing element of it that's not all it is there's so much more to it you also work with uh a number of kids throughout the South Jersey area who are of a variety of abilities what kind of work do you do with them and what's the feedback like after a day spent say on the soccer field so that is um top sports out of Harrison Township and that just sets the tone for the whole week I absolutely love it so it's a sports program for kids with special needs we have athletes I believe from three years old up to 18 and every week you know we go and we meet the kids exactly where they're at so we have kids in wheelchairs we have kids with autism we have athletes who are blind and we make sure that no matter what they're still able to play that Sport and be successful you know it comes to mind that just by educating your students and giving them knowledge about a subject that they may have never heard of before they've walked into your classroom is going to open their mind to being more inclusive and um to understanding empathy and not judging people by what they see what does that feel like for you when you see that come through in them it amazes me every time kids are so open-minded and they crave that education they crave having that knowledge and so while technically I am a math teacher I don't think it should ever stop at just your subject area you know we teach math but we also teach life skills we teach teach empathy we teach how to be kind how to be decent people and so it's amazing to watch the kids you know respond to that and actually apply it to their lives do you think growing up where you have and living you still live in your hometown your teaching there has really affected what you've chosen to do with your life's work absolutely absolutely um I always talk about my sixth grade teacher so she Mrs King she still teaches she is amazing and she gave me all the resources and tools that I needed to be successful and so because of that I went into education because I wanted to give that back to my students I'm sure there's a student in your classroom right now who's feeling the same way Brianna Baldwin thanks so much for sharing your story with us