Following Courage being voted as the value of the month, I began thinking about everything that’s taken place over the last several months, for myself and for the rest of our community here at Scholars of Finance.

We’ve all been faced with a lot.

Undoubtedly, the elephant in the room is the COVID-19 and navigating its effects, but in addition to that we’ve had an election, several friends and family members pass away, and a wave of civil unrest in the United States to name a few things. 

While these examples don’t encapsulate everything we’ve faced this year, they serve as a testament to how courageous everyone in our organization has been.

Watching this all unfold from a bird’s eye view, it’s been inspiring to see how boldly our entire organization has acted.

We’ve all remained focused on our team goal of creating a future where all finance leaders steward the world’s capital to serve the greater good. Not only that, but several members of our community, from all walks of life, stand up for what they believe in and speak up when they felt something wasn’t right.

Most of us have been online for the majority of the semester and have been secluded from our chapters and classmates. Some of you are living internationally and have to wake up at 4am to attend class, others were forced to either stay home or leave home, and others have certainly had family members be furloughed or laid off because of the impacts of COVID-19. Regardless, the two themes that I’ve seen have been endless uncertainty and relentless courage from you all to combat that uncertainty. 

It’s difficult to know what’s going to happen tomorrow, much less next month or next year. I can personally say I’ve been inspired by how quickly everyone in SOF has adapted to this new normal. Watching chapters mobilize and make progress while being fully remote, seeing you all put forth your best effort even when it’s much easier to get distracted and multi-task, and hearing about how many of you have found new interests and internships have been just a few of the ways that I’ve been inspired to keep learning and keep moving forward. 

With everything that’s in front of us now and in the future, I’d encourage you all to focus on courage for the rest of November. Work toward solving the world’s biggest problems. Stand up for what you believe in. And most importantly… stay bold.