Looking back, 21-year-old Marie Berube can trace her desire to help others back to the time when a Vietnamese family moved into her neighborhood when she was 2.

She grew up with that family's children on Troy Hill until her family moved to Reserve when she was 8.

She watched her mother, a nurse, help the Vietnamese family schedule doctor's appointments and take care of other daunting tasks.

Since then, the Pitt senior has taken helping others to heart.

She just finished a 31/2-month, unpaid internship -- without college credit -- with the American Red Cross of Western Pennsylvania. Her job was to help get emergency messages to active military personnel.

At school, she heads the refugee resettlement initiative for the student group FORGE, which stands for Facilitating Opportunity for Refugee Growth and Empowerment.

As part of FORGE, she spends three hours a week tutoring and helping a Nepali refugee family that lives in the Baldwin-Whitehall area, and she teaches Confraternity of Christian Doctrine to special needs children at her church, Most Holy Name Catholic Church on Troy Hill.

Ms. Berube, a 2007 Shaler Area High School graduate, does all of this in addition to working 25 to 30 hours a week as a clerical assistant at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

And then there's her college schedule -- a full load of 18 credits for the political science and French double major -- in the upcoming semester.

Ms. Berube said she interned at the Red Cross to get experience with a proven nonprofit organization that has a strong track record of helping others.

"I loved interning there," she said. "They do a lot for the community."

Pauline Duncan, the military and international coordinator for the Red Cross of Western Pennsylvania, said Ms. Berube always went well above and beyond what she was expected to do during her internship, coming in when she wasn't scheduled to fill in for someone else or staying late when there was extra work.

"It says a lot about her," Ms. Duncan said.

Ms. Berube said refugee welfare is something she'd like to focus on after earning a master's degree in international development and policy for human security.

"Without help, [refugees] can fall through the cracks," Ms. Berube said. "I feel it's unfair that once people are moved [here] they are left on their own."

Through FORGE, which is supported by several local charities, Ms. Berube and other students can give refugee families the support they need.

The family she helps moved here three years ago after being shipped from Nepal to the Bhutanese border because they were from a low caste.

A local church sponsored the mother, father and two teen-age boys' trip to the United States, and Ms. Berube and another tutor help the boys with their homework and a variety of things, including improving their reading and writing.

"I like making people happy. I know that sounds corny, but it's true," Ms. Berube said. "There are a lot of people who are not being helped by formal organizations."

Ms. Duncan said Ms. Berube's volunteerism and dedication are admirable.

"A lot of people think young people are not involved enough," she said. "It's a good thing to see."

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