On Kim Urbanowski’s sweater rests a honu pendant — a likeness of the Hawaiian green sea turtle — that tells a piece of the story of her life.

A story that placed her all over the United States, brought her back to Michigan and back to school balancing studying at Oakland University — all while raising her three daughters.

Jasmine Cowl’s patterned zip-up sweatshirt, jeans and long, curly hair braided to the side and fashionably draped over one shoulder make her appear to be a typical 21-year-old college student.

But she goes to class and goes home. She studies, does dishes and cleans. She does homework on the couch and when Michael, her 17-month-old son, crawls into her lap and parks himself next to her pregnant belly and asks what she’s doing, she answers.

Jaky Van Dox wasn’t supposed to have a child. And it seemed unlikely for her to ever go back to school.

However, she sits in OU’s student center, proudly pointing out the scars that pepper the top of her right hand. These thin marks remind her every day that she has a driven, successful daughter.

Two obvious characteristics make these three women similar: they are each students and mothers, trying to create the perfect balance between the two.

But, they each have very different stories.

Three’s company

Urbanowski has figured out how to take care of her children and her schooling simultaneously.

The “military brat” has lived in eight states. The Navy took her father and, thus, her mother, brother and sister, all over the United States, including Hawaii, where the gold pendant was purchased.

She has lived in Michigan with her three daughters — Kirstie, 17, Audrey, 8, and Evelyn, 6 — for the last 16 years. School and her daughters are both jobs for Urbanowski.

“I have two jobs, and they are both equally important, for different reasons,” Urbanowski said. “But my kids and their needs, not their wants, always come first.”

Urbanowski struggles most with organizing time most. But she’s got it down. She has come to appreciate crock-pots that prepare meals in the early part of the day as well as her strict bedtime rules.

Often, she finds her study periods cannot begin until Audrey and Evelyn’s bedtime at 8:30 p.m. and homework is sometimes put on pause when other family duties arise.

Kirstie, who is on a slightly later schedule than the rest of the house, sometimes needs to wind down her day of talking with her mother at night.

Sometimes she finds it hard to put her school first and to tell her kids “no,” but says it has to be done. She finds she has to fit everything in with her kids, who are ultimately her first priority.

She lives by her Outlook calendar and her BlackBerry. She thrives on chaos and said quiet drives her crazy.

But after attending Eastern Michigan University, owning “Urban Gourmet” (her own gourmet sweets shop) and being in the Navy, she is going to get the communications degree she wants.

“I wanted the choice of what I wanted to do, not what I had to do,” Urbanowski said.

Another on the way

Life is slightly different for Cowl, though no less hectic. Other than expecting another baby boy and having one at home, she’s a typical college student.

Cowl, like Urbanowski, is back in school. After her year off to get married and have Michael in 2009, she returned to finish and earn the credentials to be able to teach in an elementary school.

Unfortunately for Cowl, elementary education requires a lot of time outside of school.

After 30 hours volunteering at an elementary school each semester for an education course requirement, Cowl must find time to go to school and find someone to watch Michael while her husband Mitchell works 50 hours a week and takes three classes himself.

So, she strategizes.

Currently, she isn’t taking any education courses. Next semester, she hopes to complete her 30 hours in five weeks instead of 10 by volunteering two days a week instead of one.

That’s only the beginning for Jasmine, though.

On top of the 30 hours each semester an education class is taken, 70 additional hours of volunteering in an education field must be completed before she can apply to the school.

She said it’s difficult not only to make a schedule, but also to find time for everyday things like cooking and cleaning, which make her eyebrows furrow.

But the smile on her face remains.

“Trying to find a parking spot and then having to walk a half mile to class, while pregnant and carrying a giant bag full of books is not fun at all,” Cowl said. “By the time I’m halfway to class I’m already feeling like I’m going to die.”

Back to school

Van Dox balances school, an internship and a daughter.

Van Dox’s situation is different than Urbanowski and Cowl’s. She is the mother of a daughter who should have never been.

Van Dox was told very young she had a condition that could endanger both her child and herself if she were to ever become pregnant.

She says now, however, she wouldn’t change her decision to have Mae, 28, for the world. After Van Dox put her through college for her bachelor’s of science in environmental science, Mae went back for her master’s of environmental economics and policy from Columbia University.

“She is my greatest achievement,” Van Dox said.

As a single mother, Van Dox set aside her own career in order for Mae to attend college.

After high school, she took two years off from college to ride in the rodeo, where she was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch.

Her riding came to an abrupt end when she and her horse, Jak, had an accident during one of the shows, leaving her with a knee injury that put her in a wheelchair for a year.

On the heels of her recovery, Van Dox became pregnant. The pregnancy went well for her until the last couple of months, which she spent in the hospital with a terrible anemia.

I.V.s left her hands with a constant reminder of the risk she had taken, but in the end, she and her husband had a baby girl.

During Mae’s childhood, Van Dox worked hard to support her family, even working four jobs at once, but never missed the important parts of her daughter’s life.

“I was always there for her,” Van Dox said. “I was her Brownie leader, Girl Scout troop leader, I mean, I did not miss out.”

Now, it’s her turn.

After creating retail and department store windows, and serving as Creative Director for Ralph Lauren in New York and Nordstrom’s lead stylist, she is ready to make her next mark. Her degree will be in journalism, with a focus on advertising.

She currently interns at Driven Solutions, Inc., where she has possibly created the tag line for the new Camaro. She is set to graduate in August.

Van Dox is a firm believer that if you want something badly enough, you will fight for it.

“I can go back (and) get the degree I’ve always wanted,” Van Dox Said. My daughter is grown and it’s my turn. I’m 50-plus years old and I’m like, cool I get two lives. Everyone only gets one; I’m going on two.”