Arturo Gomez Molina
When Erika Ebe ’20 arrived at Chapman University from a small town in Northwest Washington, she thought she knew exactly what her college story would be. She had been an athlete for most of her life and discovered Chapman through softball. During her first visit, she bonded quickly with the softball team, but it was the campus itself that sealed it for her and her family.
“This place felt alive and welcoming,” Ebe said. “I just felt like the community and the energy was so apparent at Chapman.”
Ebe enrolled as a Health Sciences major in Crean College with a Psychology minor, starting on the pre-med emphasis. She expected the work to be demanding, but she also found the system she needed to succeed: professors who made themselves available, peers who collaborated rather than competed, and academic supports designed to help students master difficult material.
Choosing A New Team and Finding New Community
After freshman year, Ebe made a decision that reshaped her Chapman experience. She realized that balancing collegiate softball with the intensity of a science-heavy pre-health schedule required constant trade-offs. To fully commit to her long-term goals, she chose to step away from the team and redirect her time into academics and campus involvement.
At first, it felt like a major identity shift, but when she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma, the community filled the role she missed most from athletics: team spirit, shared commitment, and a built-in support system. She became deeply involved, serving on the chapter’s executive team and later as a Rho Gamma, guiding potential new members through recruitment. The experience strengthened her organization, communication, and confidence, skills that would later matter just as much in healthcare as in leadership.
“I found peace in my sorority,” Ebe said. “It was really hard then to transition from being a student athlete to being a student, but that community really brought me and spirits back up.”
Service, Global Perspective, and the First Real Glimpse of Medicine
Ebe’s path wasn’t shaped by classes alone. Early on, she joined Global Medical Brigades, a student-led movement for global health and sustainable development that worked with local staff and partner communities around the world to expand the access to healthcare, strengthen community infrastructure, and support long-term economic and legal solutions to those in need.
She traveled with the Brigade to Panama on a medical mission trip. The experience gave Ebe a practical exposure to healthcare needs outside the U.S. She helped with tasks like taking vitals, triaging concerns to clinicians, and supporting public health efforts. One unexpected outcome she gained from the experience was the confidence in communicating in Spanish within a medical setting.
Back on campus, Ebe continued her medical efforts and became co-president of the Emergency Medical Education Club, which overlapped with Chapman’s early First Aid Team, providing first aid at campus events.
The Internship That Clarified Everything
Ebe found an internship listing through a Crean Career Center newsletter and applied for an unpaid, nearly full-time summer role at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). She went into it thinking she was pre-med, but the daily reality of the hospital setting helped her understand what fit her best. It was the moment the idea of medicine stopped being abstract and became personal.
“It wasn’t until I had that hands-on experience, until I was actually in the hospital, that I fully understood that’s what I wanted to do,” Ebe said.
That experience helped her pivot from pre-med to pre-physician assistant (PA), a switch made easier by the structure of Chapman’s Health Sciences program, which allowed different pre-health tracks within the major. Instead of derailing her timeline, the summer opportunity brought clarity, new mentors, and a stronger sense of direction.
After graduating, Ebe attended PA school in Nashville, Tennessee, then returned to Orange County for her rotations, determined to build her career where she had first discovered her future. Today, she’s a PA in pediatric orthopedics at Rady Children’s (formerly CHOC).
When she explains her job to children, she keeps it simple with an ‘I take care of your bones.’
Ebe’s story is a Chapman story. The kind built through challenge and support, through trying things that may or may not stick, and through relationships that open doors. She arrived as a student-athlete with a plan, and she left with something stronger: the confidence to adapt, the experience to choose wisely, and a path that ultimately led her back to the place that helped define her career.
