This article examines themes of academic resilience in the descriptions of academic achievement by three students at Benjamin High School, one of the least affluent high schools in Bayside, Florida. Through ethnographically informed interviews conducted during their senior year, coherent themes emerge that provide insight into these students' resilience. I argue that the students diminished the degree to which academic achievement separated them from their peers, in addition to situating achievement in a utilitarian fashion. Ultimately, acting on the notion of academic achievement in this manner positively impacted their resilience. (Contains 3 notes.)