At Georgetown, we hear about Jesuit ideals like cura personalis frequently, but we often neglect to consider the ways in which it applies to individuals – particularly our friends and heroes who lead the charge of school pride on the pitch, on the court and in the water.The Wall Street Journal recently published an article by Mark Yost highlighting the success of student athletes at Catholic universities. Despite the tendency to dismiss athletes as students excused from meeting the same academic standards, Catholic institutions promote athletes’ academic development perhaps more so than their non-Catholic counterparts.According to the report, Catholic ideals held high at schools like Notre Dame, Villanova and Xavier are fundamental to the academic growth of athletes. In fact, Notre Dame is one of very few colleges to boast a higher graduation rate among student athletes than among the general student body.Understandably, athletes spend long hours practicing, strategizing and traveling, but Yost shows that Catholic institutions have shown their dedication to pushing these athletes even further by expecting an equal commitment to academics. The challenge may seem like a tall order, but these schools help student athletes make it work by providing paths to academic assistance and oversight.uch like its peer Catholic universities, Georgetown has strained itself to create structured programs to strengthen athletes’ academic experiences and cater to their unique schedules. The university also employs special academic coordinators and advisers for particular athletic programs and individual student athletes.Nevertheless, Yost scornfully notes that Georgetown, in contrast to other Big East programs, pushed for lower academic standards from the NCAA. But this outlier does not embody the broader approach to athletes’ academics the university promotes. Studies last November show that Georgetown student athletes have an 86 percent graduation rate that stands in stark contrast to the NCAA average of only 60 percent graduation. Furthermore, Georgetown’s 2009-2010 men’s basketball team had a 95 percent graduation rate in comparison to a 45 percent NCAA average.Earning a college degree can be a challenge, especially at a university with rigorous academic standards. Without proper guidance, academic pressures coupled with a demanding in-season and off-season schedule might produce overburdened student athletes who opt to abandon their college careers. We applaud Georgetown’s dedication to its student athletes. Rather than simply disregarding academic standards, our university, along with other Catholic academic institutions throughout the country, churns out well-rounded student athletes who strive for excellence on the field and in the classroom. “