"Don't cry, try". Those three words, told to me by my mother countless times throughout childhood, have shaped me into the woman and student I am today. The growth mindset she has passed down to me has been the biggest contributor to my academic journey. My mother has been a teacher all of my life. Growing up, she taught at the elementary school that I attended. While I never had my mother as a teacher in the classroom, she instilled lessons in me that I still rely on now in my academic pursuits. The most valuable lesson she has taught me is to have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset. In third-grade social studies, I was routinely tested on America's states and capitals. The first time I took the test, I failed. This was crushing for me because even though I had tried to study, I didn't get the outcome that I wanted. I remember crying to my mother about how I would never memorize the names of the capitals of fifty different states. My mother sat me down and explained the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed one. By deciding it was impossible to learn something new, I was adopting a fixed mindset. Having a growth mindset, she explained, means knowing that some skills do not come without effort. It takes time and hard work sometimes to learn something new. That lesson gave me the courage to try again, and with hard work, I eventually passed the test. Each time I have encountered what feels like an impossible task, my mother has been there to remind me that it is okay if some things take longer to learn than others. Some skills are grown, not innate. I am now pursuing my doctorate in audiology, and I have to remind myself constantly of the lesson my mother taught me. In my program, we are expected to learn skills in class and then perform them in appointments with real patients. Oftentimes, there are skills that I will apply in the clinic that are not perfect on the first attempt. I want to do my best every time, but to only accept perfection is to have a fixed mindset. When I get discouraged, I think of what my mother would say: "Don't cry, try". My mother worked extremely hard for her graduate degree. In addition to pursuing a Ph.D., she was also teaching full-time and raising four kids. She modeled a growth mindset for me by not letting conflict stop her from achieving her goals. She served as an example for me of what can be accomplished with a growth mindset. The biggest roadblock to my educational pursuit that comes from outside the classroom is financing my degree. Even with my job, graduate school is expensive. Receiving the Leela Shah "Be Bold" Women's Empowerment Scholarship would make a considerable difference in the financial stress that I am experiencing. The money received from this scholarship would go directly into tuition payments. I am currently studying to become an audiologist, and in order to practice, one requirement is to hold a doctoral degree in audiology. To achieve the future that I envision for myself, I am pursuing my degree by any means necessary. This scholarship would reduce the amount of debt that I have to take on in order to fund my education. I have seen through my mother how rewarding pursuing a higher degree in what you are passionate about can be. I know that it is worth it. This scholarship would bring me closer to accomplishing my goal.