WATSONVILLE -- Clara Lindley's started with an observation: Why was Cowell Beach closed during certain parts of the summer?
The question led to the 12-year-old to her project's hypothesis for the annual Santa Cruz County Science & Engineering Fair on Saturday at the county fairgrounds.
The fair drew more than 400 students from elementary, middle and high schools around the county to present their ideas that ran the gamut from environmental policy to curiosity about their surroundings.
Lindley's curiosity lead her to a researching the bacteria levels in the ocean waters of four beaches in the county, including Cowell's. Lindley hypothesized the high levels of E. coli in the water correlated with the number of seagulls in the area. More seagulls meant more seagull droppings which leads to tainted water.
While she said she was unlikely go swimming in the water, she also noted that the water levels are closely monitored.
Zeka Kuspa, a environmental toxicology graduate student at UC Santa Cruz who was judging for the first time, said meeting the students is fun because of each student's enthusiasm.
"I'm jealous," she said. "I wish I got to do this when I was in high school."
There's a criteria the judges have when speaking with each student, taking notes on their presentation, the weight of their hypothesis and how well the data was analyzed.
"We're looking at independent thought, appropriate use of tech in answering question and why they thought of the question," she said.
At the end of the competition, the judges come together to compare notes on each project and agree on who might be a winner.
Miguel Aznar has been a judge at the fair for more than 10 years and he said he finds the projects more fascinating each year.
"It's amazing," he said. "Even young students are capable of doing science."
While not all the projects are perfect, it's the flaws within certain projects that are important.
"They're curious about the answers and they're only going to learn about how to do good consistent science by trying and not just reading about the flaw but committing the flaw," he said.
When most people think about the words "science fair," it elicits the image of using vinegar and baking soda to make a faux volcano erupt, Aznar said.
But the modern science fair is much more than that.
"What people don't think about is trying to find patterns in how the universe works," Aznar said. "It's these students who are finding the patterns in how the universe works."
Follow Sentinel reporter Calvin Men at Twitter.com/calvinmenatwork