From the moment Chloe Nagi ’23 stepped foot on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University as a college freshman, she knew she wanted to go on a mission trip. She enrolled at Olivet as an undecided major in fall 2019, and after taking a few general education courses, she decided to study biology. Chloe was interested in the coursework but determined to avoid anything to do with medicine or health care. She had struggled with severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) from a young age, and one of her primary obsessions was to avoid being sick or dealing with other people who were sick.
“I knew I wanted to help people,” Chloe says, “but I was very against health care jobs because they seemed so scary. My OCD was pretty severe, particularly about germs and contamination.”
However, she was confident in her dream of traveling and serving others, so even while struggling with fear and anxiety, she signed up for a trip to Honduras, to partner with a local orphanage and vocational training center in Santa Bárbara. The trip was so impactful, Chloe eventually signed up to travel to Honduras again during her junior year.
On the second trip, the leaders, Erinn ’13/’19 MBA and Kelsey Proehl ’13/’19 MSN, encouraged all of the college students to put together an interactive career fair based on their field of study. Still not keen on pursuing medicine, Chloe somewhat begrudgingly decided to organize first-aid kits for children at the orphanage to assemble. Very quickly, her skills were put to the test.
“One of the kids had a massive cut on his leg and Erinn encouraged me to use the first-aid kit materials to bandage him up,” Chloe reflects. “I was hesitant, but I just did it. I never thought I’d enjoy doing something like that, but I couldn’t stop smiling from how much joy it brought me.”
Later that evening, during a group debrief and devotional time, Kelsey challenged the team to consider what God had put in their hands, and how He might be asking them to use their gifts—even/especially if those situations seem scary.
“I started crying,” Chloe reflects. “Immediately what came to mind was science, followed quickly by the idea of physician’s assistant (PA) school, which I had always dismissed in the past. I prayed to the Lord for confirmation and almost immediately, Erinn brought up how well I had cared for the child earlier that day.”
The dots kept connecting for Chloe even when she returned to Olivet. Due to weather delays, the group arrived back to campus a few days late. Following a full day of classes, Chloe was headed through Reed Hall of Science and was surprised to see a table for Trevecca Nazarene University’s PA school set up in the lobby. The timing felt providential and she soon began to work on an application for graduate school, while she finished her degree in biology with a minor in chemistry.
The summer after she graduated, Chloe went on a third volunteer service trip; this time to the Kudjip Nazarene Medical Hospital in Papua New Guinea with Olivet faculty, Dr. Nicole Vander Schaaf, Dr. Mike and Nancy Pyle, and a small group of other biology students. For three weeks, Chloe was able to support the work of medical missionaries by scrubbing in to procedures, witnessing a vaccine clinic for kids, observing a caesarean section from the back of an operating room and making rounds with the chaplain to pray for and with patients.
In summer 2024, Chloe moved to Nashville to enroll in the Physician Assistant Master’s Degree in Medicine Program at Trevecca. The overarching mission for the PA school is that medicine is ministry, and Chloe has witnessed the benefits of an academic setting in which the focus is on collaborative care rather than competition. The 27-month program immerses students in a full schedule of classroom courses including anatomy, pathophysiology, clinical medicine and pharmacology, plus eight rounds of six-week clinical rotations. There are some rotations that everyone is required to do, plus additional elective options. For one elective rotation, Chloe hopes to travel to Ghana to do medical mission work.
“Saying yes to the opportunities God has for me has been one of the best decisions I have made,” Chloe says. “I’ve seen Him make a way when I didn’t see one. And I continue to be fully dependent on Him through all of this because He is the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing. As a PA, I will get to treat patients—that’s a gift. But, at the end of the day, Jesus is the healer. If they are healed, that is God’s doing.”
Chloe clarifies that even with the clear calling the Lord provided for her to pursue PA school, all of her struggles with OCD did not immediately disappear. Yet, she can see evidence of the Lord’s faithfulness in every aspect of life. Engraved on her stethoscope is the verse 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.”
“Did God help me to overcome the impossible and is doing something more in me than I could ever do on my own? 100%, yes!” Chloe says. “Does that eliminate all the fear and anxiety? No. But does the fear and anxiety stop me from what the Lord is calling me to and towards? No. And that was really the turning point in Honduras—saying yes to the Lord and giving Him back the gifts that He blessed me with even though it makes me nervous. Because for the longest time, I wasn’t even open to that possibility.”
There have been so many moments of growth for Chloe over the last few years and she is optimistic that the future will continue to be bright. For now, her focus is on preparing well for her career in the medical field.
“I’m confident that the Lord has called me and my classmates here,” Chloe says. “We’re surrendering our time to what He’s called us to and all the studying is not for nothing. The fact that what I learn in a class could help someone down the road is so cool.
“Had God given me the idea of PA school at age 10, I would have never believed it,” she continues. “Fear can be so debilitating, but knowing that the Lord has called me to this and knowing that He is not going to leave me—I’m amazed at how in my weakness He is strong. All the glory to God!”
For more information about the Department of Biological Sciences, the Walker School of STEM, visit Olivet.edu/Academics.
