National Honor Society Induction Honors 171 Students

The inductees represent 53% of the junior class.

Membership in the National Honor Society recognizes students who demonstrate excellence in scholarship, leadership, service and character.

The 2025-26 National Honor Society officers include seniors Nikita Polstyanko, president; Nicholas Volpatt, vice president; Hansika Yanamadala, treasurer; and Chance Miles, secretary. Lexi Ostrowski, English teacher, serves as faculty adviser.

Founded in 1921, the National Honor Society is one of the nation’s premier organizations established to recognize outstanding high school students. Beyond academic achievement, the organization encourages members to serve as leaders in their schools and communities.

The following students were inducted into the Upper St. Clair High School chapter: 

Willow Acres, Matteo Amorosa, Madeline Ault, Jude Ausi, Hassan Baloch, John Banbury, Amir A. Barberena, Natalie Barefoot, Caroline Barnard, Benjamin Bayles, Finnigan Beggy, Joshua Beitler, Matthew Beitler, Trevor Bhandari, Molly Biedrzycki, Liam Black, Nathaniel Bode, Dylan Bodnar, Nikita Botre, Augusta Bottonari, Beatrice Boughner, Audrey Brown, Lauren Bufalini, Anthony Bunn, Madalyn Burchill, Eliana Buries, Kaitlyn Burns, Anna Bywalski, Ela Caliskan, Benjamin Cannic, Ethan Capobres, Milena Casciani, Anelise Castrodale, Bryce Catanzaro, Zackary Cianflone, Emme Ciccolella, Jacob Cimarolli, Caroline Clements, Edward Copenhaver, Aidan Coulehan, Ava Coury, Leanna Cowles, McKenna Coyle, Elizabeth Crossley, Sole Del, Alexa Demas, Gianna DeNoon, Ryland DeStefano, Anthony Dipiazza, Colin Donnelly, Grady Elias, Vivian Falce, Vincent Falsetti, Owen Fick, Dante Franks, Nicholas Frommeyer, Jackson Galbraith, Thomas Geanopulos, Lucy Gessel, Kennedy Geyer, Elaina Guarino, Ishaan Gupta,, Idil Guvenal, Leonie Hajdu, Sophia Henderson, Meiling Hu, Sophie Hicks, Caitlin Howard, Gianna Kania, Gavin Kaven, Samuel Kerber, Adam Khila, Johann Kile, Max Kile, Sophia Knierim, Nithya Kommineni, John Krugh, Leela Kulkarni, Siddharth Kumar, Nanako Kusumoto, Felicity Lalley, Tyler Lebau, Braden LeBeau, Charles Leimkuehler, Ava Liu, Cole Livingston, Olivia Mamakos, Alexandra Manning, Annabelle McCaffrey, Trevor McClintock-Comeaux, Evelyn McDermott, Grace McDonough, Preston McLeod, Clarissa McNally, Makaela Mellinger, Erika Metzger, Madelyn Miller, Robyn Miraglia, Gavin Morse, Collin Myers, Elizabeth Myers, Vedant Naik, Nathan Neponuceno, Addison Nicklas, Claire Oliva, Myles Owens, Constantino Paleos, Maxwell Parrish, Decklan Pasquini, Himani Patel, Krish Patel, Isabella Petkov, Justin Pirain, Elias Plutko, Callum Pollock, Ava Polochak, Mackenzie Pope, Nathan Powell, Morgan Proud, Stefan Prvanovic, Ian Putorti, Catalina Ramirez, Kiley Reber, Claire Reyes, Malia Reynolds, Adlyn Roth, Anthony Rozzo, Melice Rubino, Vagheeswar Sathya, Kavish Saxena, Nishesh Saxena, Sidney Schalk, Rachel Scharrer, Tanner Schroeck, Justin Schuster, Anushka Sen, Aaima Shaikh, Gabriella Shanahan, Nolan Shanahan, Tyler Shaw, Siniawski Shegan, Sofia Sistilli, Priyaharshini Sivakumar, Vivian Sliski, Kyriaki Smith, Finnegan Stafford, Cole Steffen, Abigail Stein, Angelina Stein, Logan Stillwell, Tarytarn Stoklosa, Aiyana Strojwas, Marley Strub, Will Sukernek, Charlotte Swanson, Maggie Tear, Madeleine Thomas, Livia Tranquilli, Maximillian Urban, Danis Vakufac, Pari Varshney, Naum Vlahu, Penelope Weaver, Katriel Weidner, Carter Wells, Erin Wells, Gloria Wu, Yaqoot Zalloum, Hayley Zeringue, Kyle Zheng and Olivia Ziegler.

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NHS Inductees commit to service

Over the next year, these new inductees work on one of the main pillars of the organization – community service. The students are required to conduct a minimum of 15 hours of service work in order to stay a member of the NHS. There are so many great ways new members can earn their service hours around Pittsburgh and the USC community. 

Through blood drives run by the NHS and the Harvest Street Mission, which is run by biology teacher Mr. Zebo, there are countless ways to earn service hours. Many USCHS soccer players participate in Top Soccer, which is a program run on Sundays where students can earn an hour of service by helping kids with disabilities play soccer.
 
Another way students in NHS support the community is through Casey’s Clubhouse (formerly Miracle League), a facility where individuals with disabilities are paired with a buddy to play baseball games. Members of NHS volunteer as buddies and play several games of baseball during the season.

On the same line as Casey’s Clubhouse, many NHS students participate in Best Buddies, a club where the school’s life skill students get to hangout, play games, and eat snacks with many other students in the school. Best Buddies is full of many smiles, laughter, friendships, and good memories. Through seasonal themed meetings such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, the leaders of Best Buddies keep the meetings fresh and exciting.

The NHS photo provided and this portion of the article was co-written by students in the Intermediate Communications/Multimedia Journalism Course at Upper St. Clair High School:

• Dante Franks, a junior, is a member of the boys volleyball team, the National Honor Society, and gifted program at Upper St. Clair High School. After high school, he wants to go to college in either business or architecture programs. 
• Braden Cobb, a senior, is an active member on the boys’ varsity soccer team and an active member of the National Honors Society. Braden is hoping to pursue a future career in sports business. Braden will be attending the University of Miami as a marketing major.