By Indiya Clarke ’26
Promise Henry ’25 knew she didn’t want to pursue a traditional internship in finance at a bank to gain experience in the financial field.
“I have an interest in higher education,” says Henry ’25 a double major in finance and accounting with a minor in education from Cowpens, South Carolina. “I thought it would be best for me to reach out to one of the finance professors here at Wofford to see what things look like in academia.”
Henry contacted Josh Harris ’09, visiting assistant professor of finance, and Harris introduced Henry to a long-term project that explores the impact of self-esteem in personal finance.
“We are trying to examine what role, if any, personal self-esteem has in financial resiliency,” says Harris. “If someone has high self-esteem, does that mean that they are less likely to miss a payment, or is someone who has low self-esteem less likely to miss a payment?”
Harris says Henry’s fresh perspective helped make the research paper more comprehensive.
“Promise and I come from very different backgrounds,” Harris says. “I might be thinking of self-esteem and resiliency from one standpoint, and she might be looking at it from another. So maybe we need to modify the research and include a more real-world discussion of why this matters.”
Henry and Harris plan to present their findings at undergraduate research conferences, beginning Family Weekend (Oct. 6-8) in the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts. They also hope to have their research published in an academic journal.
Henry says the experience helped prepare her for life after graduation.
“I never experienced this type of academic writing in my life,” Henry says. “It was beneficial considering this is something I’m going to do in my future.”