Sept. 14, 2021

145 named AP Scholars

The College Board recently announced that 145 Upper St. Clair High School students earned the designation of AP Scholar. These students earned recognition for their exceptional achievement in the college-level Advanced Placement Program in 2021.

“It's an impressive and noteworthy accomplishment when students engage in a plan of studies that befits their individual needs,” Dr. Timothy Wagner, Upper St. Clair High School principal, said. “Then, when 145 members of our student body enroll in multiple advanced placement courses and achieve at a nationally-recognized level, I am reminded and proud of the dedication of our students, their teachers, and their families.”

In May 2021, 368 Upper St. Clair students completed 776 AP exams in 22 subjects – earning a 79 percent pass rate. AP tests are scored 1-5; students must earn a 3 or higher to pass and possibly qualify for college credit. (Colleges and universities have independent policies regarding awarding credits for AP courses.)

Sixty students were recognized as AP Scholars with Distinction. To qualify, students must earn an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. The list of honorees includes 2021 graduates Olivia R. Amatangelo; Benjamin P. Bacdayan; Sujay Banerjee; Sydney E. Brown; Gabriella J. Brubach; Richard A. Carlson; Harrison L. Chui; Antara O. Cleetus; Franco M. D'Amico; Taylor A. Finkelstein; Reshma Gudla; Alexander M. Happ; Patrick L. Joyce; Bryce A. Keating; Donovan P. Kohler; Kara LaGoy; Andrew S. Levy; Katherine K. Li; Richa N. Mahajan; Lucas W. Manalo; Natalie Manalo; David S. McClintock; Shay A. McDowell; Madison L. Milone; John D. Mologne; Jack R. Myers; Kyle L. Ralyea; Alyssa M. Robert; Abigail B. Rutkowski; Ryan M. Sarkett; Samantha E. Seewald; Ishaan N. Shah; Sophia R. Shi; Tyler D. Super; Grace A. Suter; Constantine S. Tripodes; Jay Wang; Justin H. Yu; Veronica Zhang; and Henry M. Zou; seniors Phoebe M. Chen; Sophie C. Chen; Scott X. Cheung; Varun Damarla; Saif A. Durrani; Linus R. Friedman; Rushikesh D. Kulkarni; Esha S. Lahoti; Ethan C. Leszczynski; Eden Ma; Luka Misic; Andrew J. Rosello; Vidhur V. Senthil; Aditri Thakur; Arunprakash Vasudevan; Daniel J. Wang; Shane L. Williams; Adam S. Zheng; and Shanning Zhou; as well as junior Peer Khan.

Thirty Upper St. Clair students earned recognition as AP Scholars with Honor by earning an average score of 3.25 or higher on all AP Exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. Upper St. Clair’s AP Scholars with Honor include 2021 graduates Lilly R. Bernard; Christopher W. Bishop; Anish Chigurupati; Zhengru Fang; Daniela S. Gibbons; Hakan Guven; Steven S. Halpner; Sydney N. Lisak; Jacob M. Lucas; Kenneth Luo; Rohan Mishra; Claudia Y. Ng; Manjiri J. Palayekar; Parth J. Patel; Emma B. Skeel; and Daniel L. Spatz; and seniors William A. Bacdayan; Bear Bottonari; Grace P. Copenhaver; Milan S. Giroux; Aubrey S. Lang; Trinity R. Murphy; Ethan T. Neal; Sriya Rayapureddy; Shana S. Reddy; Sambhav M. Saggi; Ritvik P. Shah; Nitish Sharma; Nikhil E. Shetty; and Jeet J. Sutreja.

Fifty-five Upper St. Clair students earned the distinction of AP Scholar by earning scores of 3 or higher on three or more exams. AP Scholars include 2021 graduates Jackson G. Buchanan; Santiago Castro; Christina M. Conte; Raam R. Diora; Declan O. Gessel; Olivia G. Gianatasio; Malorie N. Glancy; Eileen Guo; Sara A. Hess; Noah Z. Karow; Caroline I. Knizner; Brianna M. Lin; Kahra G. Loding; John C. Maddigan; Owen J. Mann; Joseph C. Markovitz; Morgan Meddings; Fatima Mendez; Alexander B. Mitchell; Daniel J. Rieker; Valentina Rosales; Anna N. Rush; Caroline T. Sandford; Sophia M. Schlichting; Amber R. Seery; Shilp Shah; Abelardo Sobarzo; Anjali Vishwakarma; Shamita S. Yanamadala; Shannon M. Yurcich; and Jason D. Zhang; seniors Jacob Bernstein; Alyana S. Childs; Ashley V. Eichberg; Kathleen M. Gianni; Shivani A. Jajoo; Prapti Kanani; Erin R. Payne; Victoria A. Pete; Eva D. Rankin; Sujay K. Shah; Mia H. Skeel; Nivedha A. Suresh; Evan M. Tefft; Alexander H. Teresi; Hersh R. Tripathi; Fiona T. Wang; Judy Wang; Maddie J. Wetzel; and Andrew H. White; as well as juniors Jasmine F. Dietiker; Jack N. Miller; Keshav A. Narasimhan; Patrick M. Nowak; and Daniel A. Wang.

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school, and to receive college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on AP Exams. Upper St. Clair High School currently offers 21 AP courses including AP Biology; AP Calculus AB; AP Calculus BC; AP Chemistry; AP Comparative Government & Politics; AP Computer Science A; AP English Language and Composition; AP English Literature and Composition; AP Environmental Science; AP French Language; AP Macroeconomics; AP Microeconomics; AP Music Theory; AP Physics 1; AP Physics C: Mechanics; AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism; AP Psychology; AP Statistics; AP U.S. Government & Politics; AP U.S. History; and AP World History.

According to the College Board, AP students are more likely than their peers to complete college within four years and students who take AP exams say it makes them feel more confident and prepared for college.