The theme for Junior Debate Competition is sustainable development for Bermuda.

The annual competition is set to take place at CedarBridge Academy on Saturday and in the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday.

On Saturday the debater take part in the preliminary and quarter final rounds. The semi-final and finals occur on the Sunday.

Presentations are made for the following: outstanding debaters in the first to fifth place; most improved debater; the winning team; the second place team; the teams that reach the quarter and semi-finals are also given award plaques; and all debaters get awards for participation.

Children aged between nine and 12 can take part in the competition, which is sponsored by both the Department of Consumer Affairs and Cox Hallett Wilkinson.

Four competitors took time out from honing their debating skills to talk to last week.

The topics for the debate include: ?Recycling should be mandatory?, ?Open space is more valuable then building houses?, ?Students should be banned from owning cell phones?, ?A tunnel from Dockyard to Spanish Point is better than building a bridge?, and ?There should be price control in Bermuda?.

West Pembroke student Toulope Ogunyemi said the entire experience was widening her horizons.

?I am getting an important lesson in learning how to speak more and not to be shy,? she said, ?And speaking better and louder in public.

She does not practice everyday, but when she does she said, ?I practice it is like half and hour.?

The nine-year-old has learned about the importance of recycling and the cell phones should be banned in schools.

?Children shouldn?t have cell phones because it is not really useful, as today you have phones at your school,? she said.

?All of the children in my school had their phones taken away because the boys kept ringing them in the lockers. They sDepahould be off during school time and be in their school bags.?

Toulope?s mother Lola got her involved with the Junior Debate Competition.

?My mom asked if I would like to do it and I said, ?yes? and she talked to my school because no one else was going to represent my school.

?It is my first time participating, but my sister did it before. I am hoping that my team wins.?

Mrs. Ogunyemi said she was pretty much used to the schedule.

?We have did it three years running with her sister, but she is too old for it now as she is 13,? she said. ?We try for at least once a week to get in at least an hour to an hour-and-a-half and of course they have had the official lessons with Mr. Gladstone Thomson (principal of Southampton Glebe Primary School) as well.

?I think overall it is a very beneficial experience, it could be hard work, but in the long run it is going to benefit her.?

When eleven year old Matthew Thompson was asked what he was gaining by being a junior debater, he said: ?Knowledge! Sometimes arguments might start in school and I would get a bit tongue-tied before, so it has helped me out there.

?So, it has really been fun. It has taught me a lot, I never knew that cell phones could cause radiation to the brain and how to prevent things like deforestation.?

But aside from learning he has also met new friends.

?I have met a boy that I would have never met and we eventually got together,? said the Warwick Academy student.

?We met at the general meeting and he was playing a game and I went over and asked him what he was playing.?

He and his team mates are covering cell phones in schools, whether recycling should be mandatory, and open spaces.

Out of the three, his favourite topic is recycling.

@EDITRULE:

Semi-finals Saturday 9 a.m. ? 4.30 p.m. and finals/prize giving between 2 p.m. ? 6 p.m. Free admission.