“They’re doing all of this in two hours. It’s extremely intense,” said the team’s coach and Desert Arroyo science teacher Joanne Spiess, who also brought a future problem solving team to the competition last year. Individual competitors are allotted one‑and‑a‑half hours.

Spiess worked with Lazo independently every few weeks throughout the year, but worked with the sixth graders daily.

The students spent their last month of school preparing for the international competition. They read economic and business journals to learn about the current issues relating to the redistribution of wealth.

“Reading over this stuff, it’s rather disheartening,” Lazo said.

Through his cursory research, Lazo came to the conclusion that the U.S. Census Bureau’s system for measuring poverty is outdated and not very fair. Lazo realizes his brief study period on the subject by no means makes him an expert on the redistribution of wealth, but said, “There are steps you can take to try to make it a little more equal.”

For example, Lazo said he “wouldn’t give tax cuts to the wealthy.” Brennan, a fellow problem solver, wasn’t sure if the distribution of wealth should be equal, but learned that disagreement on the issue could lead to social unrest.

Saltwick, one of her teammates, has read several different viewpoints on the issue and also

wasn’t sure if the distribution of wealth should be equal. He has learned, however, a little about poverty. “The poor people who don’t seek (government) help can get stuck in poverty longer,” he said.

While the written portion of the competition was graded, the students working in teams created a dramatic presentation illustrating their solution in action. It incorporated one prop and one line given to them by program administrators. At state, the skit created at the state competition relating to health care access earned the group first place.

Reach the reporter at ambria@thedesertadvocate.com.