Chandra Lochan

A track scholarship temporarily derailed 22-year-old Chandra Lochan’s college career, but persistent prayer got her running in the right direction.

The Trinidad-born Lochan, a senior at Calvin College, relocated to the United States with her family at the age of three-and-a-half “so I could get education in the states,” she said. While a student at East Kentwood High School, Lochan attended Calvin’s Entrada Scholars Program, but she chose to attend Michigan State University (MSU) upon graduation.

Two factors influenced her decision. A star hurdler on her high school track team, she earned a track and field scholarship to MSU. That and her mother’s strictness regarding grades and comportment had Lochan gazing toward Lansing.

“As soon as I got a chance to get out to this school and strut my stuff, I went,” she said.

At MSU, athletic demands collided with academic pressures for Lochan. “I was majoring in biology, and my grades were terrible because I participated in track. I knew I needed to make a change, and I didn’t know what. So I prayed about it forever—the whole second year. And out of the blue, I get this e-mail from Jan Heerspink of Entrada.”

The note from Heerspink, a coordinator for student academic services at Calvin, was a routine follow-up on the Entrada alum. “I responded to her e-mail, saying I wasn’t doing too well, and I was frustrated. My grades were too poor, and I didn’t know what to do,” Lochan remembered. “And I also included maybe possibly also considering Calvin, which I hadn’t considered before this e-mail.”

Heerspink referred her, with plenty of encouragement, to the Calvin admissions office. The following fall, Lochan arrived on the Knollcrest campus, wondering if she’d made a mistake. “Being a minority at Calvin is not an easy thing. Socially, it was terrible, but my main focus was on academics. And I thought, ‘I’ve prayed about it a lot. God isn’t going to take me here to drop me off and leave me.’”

When transferring from MSU, Lochan made another significant change in her plans, exchanging biology for political science as a major. (“Chemistry did it for me,” she laughed.) The switch would have significant consequences for both her social life and career.

A professor in her new major, Corwin Smidt, also director of the Paul Henry Institute, recommended that Lochan study in Washington, D.C., during her spring semester. She accepted an internship on the television show America’s Most Wanted, headquartered in the nation’s capital.

In addition to forming lasting friendships with Calvin students during her D.C. experience, Lochan made unexpected career strides as a television intern. She worked primarily with the city’s law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, on legal issues for the show.

One day, when a frustrated television producer had too many faxes and Fed Exes to deal with on too short a deadline, Lochan swept the whole mess out of his arms and handled it. “From that day on, I got all these assignments I never thought I’d get,” she said. She wrote scripts for series host John Walsh and for crime re-enactments. And when someone from FOX News Network—located in the same building as the television show—spotted Lochan, she was offered a shot in front of the camera, anchoring a news report on the dangers of driving while using a cell phone. Her D.C. experience ended with a job offer on America’s Most Wanted.

Lochan plans to use that opportunity as a stepping stone into a career that combines politics and television. “When I grow up, I want to have a political debate show. I think the media is biased. Instead of talking about it, I want to get involved with it,” she said.

Rhae-Ann Booker, Calvin’s director of pre-college programs, said she was unsurprised by Lochan’s rapid success: “Even at Entrada she came forth as a leader. I’ve been most impressed with the fact that she’s a commuter student, yet still gets involved on campus, seeking out opportunities. … She is magnetic and a role model.” Lochan’s faith plays no inconsiderable role in her life, Booker said.

A Christian since she was 14 and a faithful attender of New Hope Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Lochan sees God’s guidance even in her detours. “I needed to be humbled at Michigan State. I had to go through bad grades to realize that’s not the place I was supposed to be.”