Upper St. Clair

Upper St. Clair High School

Rich and spoiled are something that people always associate with kids from Upper St. Clair. Everyone who knows the region knows how Upper St. Clair has all the rich families and all the smart kids. It is true that we are all smart, but not all of us are the rich jerks that everyone seems to think we are. Upper St. Clair is a place that not many people will ever understand because there are a set of values and a code that everyone seems to live by. Upper St. Clair is a place of great success and a great place to live. To truly understand what Upper St. Clair is, one must see it through the eyes of someone who has lived there since he remembers. It is not the usual Pittsburgh suburban community, but one that values greatness, integrity and respect and that’s what gave Upper St. Clair the reputation that it has.

At a very young age, every student is taught very important values. It does help that all the students are placed into some of the best elementary schools in the country, based upon the number of Blue Ribbon Awards that each of the Upper St. Clair elementary school has. The Blue Ribbon Award is given to a school that exhibits excellence in the classroom, but also excellence for helping the community. Each school in Upper St. Clair has at least 2 Blue Ribbon Awards, showing how excellence is something all students strive for. Students are taught by day one to talk to other kids, learn about each other and to make friends and to not let anyone make anyone feel bad or hurt anyone. The students are taught to be the best they can be. It is not because of the parent’s money that everyone can get anywhere, but it has to be the students themselves that gets them to be where they want to be. They all are taught to treat everyone with respect and if we do that, then they will be treated with respect right back. They respect the rules that their parents, teachers, and school set in place for them. When they break those rules, they are not punished, but they are told that they have disappointed the school and their parents. It is there that they as Upper St. Clair students learn. They work hard to make their parents and our school proud. Over 25 students last year received scholarships for various things, like math competitions, reading, and many other things. More than half of each Upper St. Clair class is inducted into the National Honors Society. Everyone does their best to make their parents proud. It is the values that they are taught that make them who they are, and what makes Upper St. Clair the place of excellence.

Integrity is one of the most important aspects of Upper St. Clair. Upper St. Clair High School is known by most universities as one of the top high schools in the country. They have some of the best teachers, who make them work for their grades and teach them some of the hardest material that one can learn in high school. It is in the classroom that they as students thrive. They show up each day and are challenged to do better and better. That is what makes them who they are. Often people think that kids in Upper St. Clair have their parents pay the school to give their kids better grades, but that does not happen. The 2008 class of Upper St. Clair has proven every year that they were the best. Since the start of the Pennsylvania State Scholastic Assessment test, they have ranked number one every year that the test was administered according to the Business Times Magazine. They had a 100 percent proficiency in Math and 99 percent in Reading and 98 percent in writing. They have worked hard to earn the top ranking in the state assessment for public high schools. They take pride in the fact that they work very hard in a very tough high school to be the very intelligent students. They do not let anyone tell them that they got somewhere because their parents paid their way through something. They are proud to be from Upper St. Clair because nowhere else is just like it.

Academics are something Upper St. Clair has always excelled, but being well- rounded is what is what makes Upper St. Clair what it is. All students take pride in the fact that they are a very intelligent class of people, but they also take pride in everything that they do. They have shown excellence in academics, but athletics is something else that they take pride in. They are one of the smallest schools in the league, yet prove each year in most sports to be a powerhouse. The Upper St. Clair football team won the state championship in 2006, a western Pennsylvania lacrosse championship in 2005, as well as championships in tennis, girl’s basketball and boy’s golf. Everyone tries to prove that they are not just academically strong, but strong on the playing field as well. Also, they work in the summers for their parents, so that they can see what the real world is like and to see why they must do our best, so that we can have the nice lifestyle that they currently live. They work hard on everything that they do, no matter what it is. This is what helps them to be the well-rounded students that they are. It is their strong work ethic that makes Upper Str. Clair the place that it is. Every student works hard to be a well-rounded individual.

Respect, pride, integrity and excellence, are all words that describe Upper St. Clair. These words define the community in which I grew up. Upper St. Clair is a place where the students shape the outside view of the community. The only defining aspect that adults have on the view is their wealth, but the students are the ones that make the image of Upper St. Clair what it really should be. No one notices how hard we work. It is in the hand of the students, to show the excellence that is Upper St. Clair.