When Caterina Fellows catches the tram from her home in Gungahlin to uni or the city next year, the voice she hears telling her “Thank you for travelling with us on Canberra light rail” might well be her own.
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Caterina is one of five college students who will record public announcements for passengers on the trams.
They were among 100 who auditioned to be the "voice of light rail", and were chosen from 12 finalists after auditions at Dickson College on Friday.
Caterina, 18, is a year 12 student from Gungahlin College. She said she heard about the audition from her school drama teacher.
“In drama this semester we’re doing recorded voice, so our teacher was like, 'Hey, you guys should audition for this thing', and I did, and I got in," she said.
She took no professional voice lessons for the auditions, simply practising the lines alone in her room.
“I didn’t want to practise too much in case I started to overthink it and get too nervous, so I just went over the lines a couple times by myself,” she said.
“During the audition I was trying to sound clear, but also smooth.”
Caterina said she would catch the tram to get to and from university, and for shopping trips to the city.
She said she had always had a positive view of the light rail construction, and had even researched it for a school assignment.
“I really like the light rail, I’m super excited. I did an economics report on it recently and I think it’ll be really good for cutting down traffic congestion,” she said.
“I was excited about it before, but I’m really excited now that I’m a part of it."
The students were asked to read lines such as: "Now departing Macarthur, the next stop is Dickson Interchange”, "Welcome aboard, we hope you enjoy your ride with us", and "Passengers are reminded smoking is not permitted on this service".
Like his fellow Gungahlin College students, Year 12 student Hejha Piran, 17, was handpicked by his teacher to audition.
“One of the two drama teachers picked a few of us who he thought would be good for the job and had us a audition for it.” he said.
“I saw it as a really good opportunity to - I guess it sounds cheesy - but to make my mark in Canberra.”
Hejha used techniques during the audition to make himself come across as friendly as possible.
“Even though they can’t see my face I was smiling when was saying my lines because you can hear it come through," he said.
Hejha said his family, and his father in particular, were proud that he was one of the voices of Canberra’s light rail.
“My dad said that he’s really proud and that to him I’m like, up there with Siri,” he said with a laugh.
Year 12 student Saga Nury, 18, the winner from Dickson College, arrived in Australia from Indonesia just two years ago.
He said he was worried at first that he might mispronounce some words, but found he had no trouble.
“I was trying to be be clear because for a non-native English speaker like myself it’s kind of hard at first," he said.
"So I was just trying to state it out so those who don't understand can sort of get the gist of it.”
17-year-old Naomi Akbah, a year 12 student at Gungahlin College, said she would be using the tram for some time before she got her Ps, and she had tried to fit in as much practice as she could before the audition.
"I was doing a lot of practice at home, even in the car on the way before I got there, and in front of my parents and my teacher of course," she said.
Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris has said using students as announcers was part of a broader attempt to engage students with the light rail project.
Students from the light rail route, which goes near Dickson, Daramalan, Merici and Gungahlin colleges, were invited to audition for the role. The winners will not be paid for voicing the announcements.
