In this month’s column, the author admits that she didn’t have a particularly positive image of student-athletes when she began teaching. She anticipated that the “student” part of that name was merely vestigial: a useless appendage not yet evolved away completely. Although admittedly arrogant, she felt that she had sufficient retrospective data to support her apprehensions. But then this teacher got a lesson—class after class, semester after semester—she had to develop an alternate hypothesis! It turned out that her student-athletes were often the best academic performers in her class. So here she discusses why student-athletes need a sporting chance at succeeding in science.