Having spent much of her young life on the ballet and musical stage, Charlotte Wickson is confident in playing any role.
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But the 16-year-old told The Daily Advertiser she lacks the confidence to be herself behind the podium.
The Riverina Anglican College student is hopeful her inclusion in this year's Committee 4 Wagga school leaders program will give her the confidence to address a crowd in her own words.
"I am really looking for better leadership skills. All the school captains at my school have gone through this program before and they're all really lovely people that I look up to and want to be like," Charlotte said.
"I've done a lot of acting and I've always been on stage but I need to be able to speak freely and do more public speaking.
"I've been in a few musicals and those kinds of things, I am able to convey lines well on stage. But in public speaking, you're conveying a point in your own words, so that's what I need more opportunities doing."
Charlotte is one of 19 students in this year's program cohort, with the program now entering its fifth year of operation.
Up to three students are chosen each year from each high school in Wagga, and on Monday the entire group met together for the first time.
Fellow participant, Patrick Campbell from Kildare Catholic College said he was also looking for an opportunity to gain clarity in his own voice.
With ambitions to attend the Royal Military College after finishing school, the 17-year-old is aware of his ability to communicate effectively could mean life or death in his chosen vocation.
"I want to push my own limitations because I'm just not a keen speaker," he said.
"I want to be able to articulate things better, being able to listen and communicate ideas would be really beneficial [in the military]."
Kooringal High School student Chloe Hinds is also looking for the opportunity to grow her communications skills, though she envisions a multilingual path in her immediate future.
"I might do teaching [at university] and I really want to travel," the 16-year-old said.
"I want to do a Mamamia-style trip around Europe, that's the ultimate aim, it just sounds amazing.
"I do enjoy talking to people and learning about them, so communication is really important."
For the next six months, the students will meet regularly with facilitators Chris Fitzpatrick and Bernadette Priest, to complete seven leadership modules.
Primarily, their first meeting on Monday was intended to help the students develop bonds with each other, and identify the areas they need to focus their attention.
"One of the first things we do each year is to have [the students] identify the words they need to take out of their vocabulary," Mr Fitzpatrick said.
"Every year the words are fairly similar, but they're mostly the superlative words we all use, the 'ums', and 'ahs'.
"There are some differences you see each year with the on-trend phrases. 'That's my bad' is something we're hearing a lot more of, so instead of using that we focus on the courteous way of apologising.
"By the end [of the program], we try to completely remove those kinds of things from their speech to just make their communication more effective."