“Everything that I have learned about life can be summed up in three words: it goes on.” This quote, by Robert Frost, is a beloved quote for Pennsylvania Zeta Marybeth Donnelly (who majored in English in college by the way), because it captures a realistic view of our everyday lives.

After graduating from Washington and Jefferson College, Marybeth was not sure what she wanted to do. She reached a crossroads trying to figure out what came next, so she traveled a bit and then lived at home with her parents. Finally, Marybeth took a job working in hotel event planning, utilizing the skills she learned as Vice President of Event Planning in Pi Phi. This position moved her out of her home state of Pennsylvania, where she lived her whole life, to a new location: Rochester, New York.

Now Marybeth works for the Department of Human Services for Monroe County, where Rochester is located, in the Centralized Document Management office. In her job, she intakes and processes documents from clients in areas like Temporary Assistance, Food Stamps, and Medicaid. Marybeth enjoys her job – the organizing of paperwork, co-workers, and especially knowing that she is really helping the people and community.

She has been in her position for a year and half and continues to strive to be the best she can be in order to serve others better. Being effective in her job is important, knowing that a lot of the documents are time sensitive. She makes a huge impact on her clients’ cases and she knows they are depending on her. “People don’t know the process and they’re under pretty tough circumstances,” she explains, so Marybeth loves to stay positive and remind them, “It will be okay.”