Hundreds of undergraduate students were given the opportunity to have exposure to python computer programming, jupyter notebooks and omics data analysis for the first time in a core biochemistry course. The implications of this work include not only a first introduction (for many) to coding and omics data science, but changing student's perceptions on what they can achieve and their attitudes toward coding and omics data. These implications are likely to have ripple effects that may ultimately influence how student's select future courses, research opportunities and job opportunities. Furthermore, the introduction of data science in a core undergraduate course leveled the playing socio-economic, ethnic and gender playing field in several ways. Many of the student's initial attitudes toward programming and omics data science were influenced by their socio-economic, gender and ethnic identities. Providing guidance and intervention in a core chemistry class served to level the playing field, as demonstrated by the changes in attitudes, interests and confidence levels by the end of the course.