'Arista' is a variant name for National Honor Society (NHS) chapters in common use in New York City public high schools. ARISTA originated at Erasmus Hall High School in the early years of the 20th century.
The Constitution of the NHS chapter reads, "Article I - Title: This organization shall hereby be known as the National Honor Society, not to be referred to [by] the New York title of 'Arista'", demonstrating use of the variant name.
A common insignia of NHS 'Arista' chapters, in addition to the official NHS 'torch', was an oval lapel pin, divided diagonally into two halves, in the particular high school's colors.
For further information, see the Wikipedia article on National Honor Society.
References:
[1] (site accessed 12 July 2007) "In 1974, he [Davis] founded Arista Records, naming it after his secondary school honor society."
[2] (site accessed 12 July 2007)