Local high school students of the SCCHS debate club will be travelling to Saskatoon for the Provincial Debate Championships this week. 

The event will run from March 15 - 16 with a banquet and awards ceremony on Saturday evening after the final rounds. 

The theme of the debate is technology and values, while the topic for the high school students is: "This house believes that the mining of minerals necessary for green technology, such as cobalt and lithium, does more harm than good." 

The Swift Current students, Nick Dyckie, Annabelle Murray, and Brave Azorji, were given instructions to prepare for both sides of the debate.

The debate will be partially online, with a Zoom call on Friday from 5 - 9:00 p.m., then in person on Saturday with rounds from 12 - 5:30 p.m. at Aden Bowman High School in Saskatoon. 

Tournament fees were $85 per student and invitations to the event were emailed out earlier this year on Feb. 14.

Each team from Saskatoon is required to provide one judge for each day while teams from outside Saskatoon were instructed to provide one judge for the Zoom rounds on Friday.

There is very limited availability for the banquet dinner, each student is allowed only one family member.

Parents or family members who volunteered to judge paid $25 for their banquet ticket while those who did not volunteer to judge paid $40. 

Aspiring young debaters at the Provincial Championships may have a chance to qualify to advance to the National Debate Championships.