Oak Knoll Lower School alums Luke Weldon ’22 (LS), left, and William Hennig ’23 (LS). Photo courtesy of Meghan Podimsky, Delbarton School.

Two Oak Knoll Lower School alumni won top awards at Delbarton School’s recent middle school science fair, which showcased over 70 projects and celebrated excellence across various scientific disciplines. 

Oak Knoll alum William Hennig ’23 (LS), now in seventh grade at Delbarton, won the Best in Biology Award for his project, “Analysis of the Bacteria Level of a Dog’s Mouth Compared to a Human’s Mouth.” His project aimed to test the urban myth of whether a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s. 

Hennig’s research determined that dogs’ mouths contain, on average, 163 more bacteria colonies than humans. 

Oak Knoll alum Luke Weldon ’22 (LS), currently an eighth-grader at Delbarton, received the Da Vinci Award for his project, “How Much Spin Helps the Ball Go In?” The school wrote that the project exemplified the spirit of Leonardo da Vinci by blending creativity with scientific inquiry. 

Weldon, a middle school basketball player at Delbarton, explored the optimum number of ball rotations per shot for making a basket. He found that one rotation was most efficient for free throws, with a success rate of 61.1%; three rotations were most efficient for three-pointers, achieving a success rate of 60.4%; and layups with ball rotation had the highest success rate, at 86.6%. 

Regina Cherill, Oak Knoll Grades 3-6 STEM Teacher, who taught both Weldon and Hennig before they graduated from Oak Knoll, expressed immense pride and congratulated the boys for their ingenious projects. “I’m so proud of Billy and Luke,” she said. “They were excellent science students at Oak Knoll, and I’m thrilled to see them expressing the same level of curiosity that drives such fantastic investigations.”

The accomplishments of both Hennig and Weldon serve as a testament to the strong foundation of academic excellence and purpose fostered right here at Oak Knoll.

Congratulations to our Oak Knoll alums!