By Amy Blake

A young mother sits on her 2-year-old son's small bed and softly reads the words to a story. She is home after a full day at work and has enjoyed the evening hours spent with her son. As she turns out the light she puts the story book on the shelf. But that isn't the last book she will open for the night. This mother and full-time employee is also a university student, and still has to read a chapter in her geology textbook before bed.

Taking nine credits at Utah State University, working a full-time job, keeping up with church responsibilities and being a loving wife and mother are all in a day's work for Carolyn Glover. Like many college students who have difficulty with time management, Carolyn agrees her biggest challenge is prioritizing and balancing all her responsibilities.

Sometimes I wish I had a sign to hang on my door with a list of all the things I have to do, then people could see why cleaning house is last priority," she jokes. According to Carolyn, sometimes her house shows it when she doesn't have time to do everything, but that doesn't seem to stop her from trying.

A study of student mothers conducted at Fullerton University found that most of them struggled with the expected challenges of balancing family work and school, but also found that student-mothers experience positive changes in their ability to handle stress and make time to spend with their children.

Carolyn sits every day at her desk in an office in the northeast corner of the Taggart Student Center at Utah State University. She is the staff assistant for Student Support Services (SSS) full-time, but takes breaks during the day to attend class. The office staff at SSS is extremely supportive of Carolyn, which has enabled her to juggle school and work at the same time.

Her coworkers think she balances being a student, an employee and a mom very well. Coworker Wendy Beck said everything Carolyn does is done well. "She is so efficient, and really does a good job of making things look excellent. In her classes she makes everyone else feel inadequate," Beck added.

Another coworker, Carol Sainsbury, agrees. "Carolyn is the ultimate overachiever."

Fullerton University's study revealed one major goal of mothers pursuing higher education was to provide a better life for their children. Increased technology in the workforce is another reason many women have returned to school in order to keep up with the demands of their jobs.

Technology, however, is not what motivated Carolyn to go to school. Her quiet and gentle demeanor fits Carolyn's aspirations for the future. She is a junior in the elementary education program and would like to teach second grade. She said she feels being a mom has helped her understand children better and will be a benefit to her as a teacher. "I've been able to apply the things we learn about in classes like child development because of my son."

Nazih Al-Rashid, director of SSS, researched mothers in the workforce as a part of his master's dissertation. He said he is happy to have a staff assistant who is a mother and is also concerned with education. He said, "Because we are in higher education we are lucky to be able to assist in improving Carolyn's academic skill." Like her other coworkers he also praises Carolyn's proficient work.

Carolyn deals with dozens of students daily as a part of her job. SSS is a program designed to support low-income, first generation or disabled students in college with academic assistance and advising services. Sainsbury said Carolyn is extremely helpful for students in the program and is a good example to the students. She shows them that "balancing school and life can be done," Sainsbury added.

There are programs on campus designed to assist student mothers. The Women^s Center at Utah State University is designed to assist women in need of help who are coming to school for the first time or returning after a long time. According to Janet Osborne, director of the Women's Center, "The Center serves as an advocate for women, educating campus and community constituencies on the changing status of women and gender-based issues through a variety of programs and activities."

It is reassuring for many students to know there are support programs on campus.

The Women's Center website also noted a rise in the number of married women with children who choose to attend school. However, there is a decrease in the number of single parent mothers. This is due in part to laws that have been passed that require women on welfare to work. Carolyn feels fortunate to be able to work and go to school.

"I always planned on graduating from college," Carolyn said. Although her father didn't earn his degree until after Carolyn was married, and her mom only took a few college courses, Carolyn said education was always important to her. Her step-mom really encouraged her to go to college after her graduation from high school. With this encouragement, Carolyn moved from her home in Texas to the small town of Rexburg, Idaho, to attend Ricks College.

Carolyn fell in love with Chad Glover, a native Idaho boy, and they were married after her freshman year. She took a two-year break from school after they married to work full-time while her husband continued his schooling. When the couple moved to Logan to attend USU Carolyn was excited for the opportunity to get back to school. She has now worked on campus for five years and has been back in school for two years.

In 1999 Carolyn was diagnosed with endometriosis, a disease which could have potentially affected her ability to have children.

"That's when we decided to do what we said we never would, and have kids while we were still going to school." Carson, the couple's son, is now an energetic 3-year-old.

Carolyn will finish her program in fall 2005. She looks forward to being able to focus on being a mom and her career as a teacher. Although it isn't always easy to balance it all; being a mom, working and going to school, Carolyn says she has absolutely no regrets about having Carson.

"I feel like I'm a good mom, even when my time is stretched thin," she said. "We have a busy life, but it is worth it."

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