Third grader Amille Bottom of IWA Elementary School with her project board. She won Best in Show for her project entitled "What is an Insect Favorite Color."

"I was very impressed with all of the science projects. There seemed to be more creativity and originality this year," remarked Diocesan Science Fair Chairman David Mason.

The 16th annual Diocesan Science Fair was held April 4 on the campus of Incarnate Word Academy.

Students from grades kindergarten to eighth competed for the opportunity to advance to the Coastal Bend Science Fair to be held the first weekend of May.

Sixteen Catholic schools were represented at the Diocesan level with 270 projects entered.

The top four winners will advance to the Coastal Bend Science Fair with fifth place as an alternate.

The first place winners from each grade were then judged separately to determine the Best in Show.

Incarnate Word Elementary third grader Amille Bottom's project entitled "What is an Insect's Favorite Color" was awarded Best in Show.

Bottom said she was interested in why insects pick certain colors.

"I researched projects about insects. I wanted to know if insects can to be attracted to any color. I found out that most insects are attracted to the color yellow. I think the reason why is because the color of pollen, and we have lots of yellow flowers around here."

Amille's mother Stephanie Bottoms was clearly overjoyed with her daughter's accomplishment.

"You could knock me over with a feather. This is the first time Amille competed. We are a family of writers not scientists. I am very proud of her. Amille enjoyed working on this project very much."

Stephanie believes that Amille working on this project alone made a big difference.

"Because she enjoyed developing the project, she understood the project."

Mary Hubert, a sixth grader at St. Gertrude in Kingsville won in her grade with the project "Skin So Moist."

Hubert's hypothesis was to determine, "which moisturizing lotion will allow the least amount of water to be lost because of evaporation. I wanted to see which moisturizer works the best," stated Hubert.

Hubert discovered that "Utterly Smooth works the best. It is an udder cream which can be used on cows. I thought Vaseline would work the best, but it did not do well in my experiments."

A seventh grader at Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School, Bethany Hernandez placed second with her project entitled "BacLash."

Hernandez's hypothesis was how much bacteria does a mascara tube contain when it is first purchased.

Hernandez discovered that mascara tubes "have a lot of bacteria. It was very disturbing. I picked a number of different brands of mascara. It did not matter the price of the mascara. You think it would, but it did not."

Winner of the eighth grade section was Andrew Orgill of Incarnate Word Middle School.

Orgill's project called "The Sound Barrier" dealt with insulation and sound proofing a wall.

"I wanted to know which type of insulation would do the best job in sound proofing a room. I used different thickness of drywall and different types of insulation. I discovered the best sound proofing uses a six inch drywall with fiber glass insulation and added rubber seals."

Looking over all of the projects, David Mason concluded, "The projects get better every year. I actually saw one science fair project which I had never seen before. The students' creativity is amazing."