Singing in front of large crowds, public speaking and performing with drama group Troika has taught 17-year-old Claire-Lee Decouto a lot about herself.

Claire has just returned from representing Bermuda at the International Rotary speech competition in New York City and although she didn't place near the top she called the experience "amazing".

"I competed against people from Asia, Europe and the United States," said Claire. "It was quite stressful trying to memorise my speech and preparing for the event but overall it was a great experience for me."

Nishanthi Bailey, director of performance group Troika, which Claire has been a part of for more than a year, said Claire was always prepared to work hard.

"Claire is always ready to step up to any challenge she will try anything," said Ms Bailey. "She gives her best to everything she does and is able to work well outside of her comfort zone."

According to Claire, she never imagined herself speaking or performing in front of crowds of people.

But after learning at age 13 that she had a talent for singing she said she has grown to love being on stage.

"You get a real sense of accomplishment performing for a crowd," said the Berkeley S4 student."You learn what you are actually capable of and it feels really good to put a smile on the faces of all those people."

She added: "I started singing in my church choir and then began singing solo as well. I had never planned on acting before I joined Troika but one of the first things I did with them was a solo monologue and I realised that I can act as well as sing.

"Performing art allows me to express myself and I have learnt so much through Troika. Leading up to our last play 'Ammunition' I learnt about teamwork because we all had to get together and write the script for the play ourselves. Every individual had their own opinions and ideas and we had to work together without putting each other down to come up with a completed script."

Claire has just completed Government's mentoring programme Mirrors where she was given the "Self Expression Award".

"Mirrors was awesome!" said Claire. "People think that the programme is for at-risk youth or kids who misbehave but it is actually a great programme for any young person. Mirrors helps you express yourself, teaches you to cope with your past and it helped me learn a lot about myself as a person. They teach you about trust, responsibility and how to accept and acknowledge personal mistakes."

Next year Claire plans to attend Bermuda College where she will pursue a liberal arts degree before going abroad to the American Music and Dramatic Academy, in New York.

"I hope to eventually get a degree in Music and Theatre from The Music and Dramatic Society," Claire said.

And the enthusiastic young lady said she wants to work hard to achieve her goals and intends to always remember her favourite saying. "Every cloud as a silver lining," she said.