In the fluorescent-lit basement of CSU Pueblo’s Life Science Building, Amanda Stalder navigates through a maze of aluminum foil-wrapped equipment to reach her domain: a sterile cell culture room where she has spent the past three years coaxing human bone cells to grow in petri dishes. This quiet space has been her sanctuary for three years, a place where the aspiring physician has explored an unlikely intersection of cannabis research and bone cells. 

“I’m looking at the influences of the endocannabinoid system on bone formation,” Stalder explains, her voice carrying the practiced ease of someone who has explained complex science countless times. Not many medical school applicants can say they spent their undergraduate years studying how the body’s natural cannabis-like compounds affect bone growth. 

But then again, Stalder’s path to medicine has never been conventional. 

The 2025 recipient of CSU Pueblo’s most prestigious student award, the Threlkeld Prize for Excellence, will graduate this spring with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology. Come July, she’ll begin medical school at the University of Kansas, returning to the state where her scientific journey began. 

It started with Mrs. Frederick. 

“I had the most fantastic biology teacher,” Stalder recalls of her high school years in Kansas. In a rural school with minimal STEM opportunities, Mrs. Frederick taught nearly every available science class. Stalder took them all. “I knew right then I was like biology is for me, science is for me.” 

That certainty carried her through a childhood marked by constant relocation. Her father’s work in the cement industry took the family from Iowa to South Dakota to Colorado to Kansas. The shy, quiet child learned to adapt, though she admits it wasn’t easy. “You never have that childhood friend that has seen you grow up through all the years,” she says. 

The transience taught her something else too. Each move revealed subtle cultural shifts across the Midwest, different ways communities organize themselves, and care for one another. When she returned to Pueblo for college, it felt like coming home. She’d attended elementary school here briefly as a child. 

Her first semester in fall 2020 brought unexpected challenges. The pandemic limited opportunities to join clubs or engage with the community. “I was really bummed,” she remembers. But when restrictions lifted, she threw herself into campus life with remarkable energy. 

She joined the Medical Science Society, became vice president of the TriBeta Biological Honor Society, and began undergraduate research with multiple professors. Her volunteer work expanded to include caring for patients in UCHealth’s emergency and rehabilitation departments, providing hospice care, and fundraising through her church. 

The recognition that came with the Threlkeld Prize caught her off guard. “Recognition is not something that I’m ever looking for,” she says, echoing a sentiment that runs throughout our conversation. She describes herself as someone who works quietly, motivated by love for the work itself rather than accolades. 

Her research advisor, Annette Gabaldón, sees it differently. “She’s good at getting projects started, working with the younger new students in the lab,” Gabaldón says. “Inspirational, motivational, just a good role model for them.” 

The research that has consumed much of Stalder’s time involves examining how anandamide, a naturally occurring endocannabinoid, affects bone formation. It’s precise, demanding work that requires hours in sterile conditions, protecting both the cells and the researcher from contamination. 

For Stalder, the technical challenges of laboratory research connect directly to her larger mission. “Medicine is a fantastic balance of me getting to do science, which is very fun for me and very enlightening, and balancing that with the compassion that I have for other people.” 

Her experiences in Pueblo have shaped her vision for her medical career. She’s witnessed firsthand how rural and underserved communities struggle to access healthcare, with many services pushed to larger cities like Colorado Springs and Denver. “I’ve learned a lot about community from Pueblo,” she says. 

This understanding drives her commitment to becoming a rural physician. She envisions herself not just treating patients but educating them, ensuring the latest medical advances reach communities often left behind. “I want to continue to educate my patients, something that is not very common in rural and underserved areas.” 

As she prepares her graduation speech for the ceremony where she’ll represent the Class of 2025, Stalder focuses on a simple message. After thanking faculty, staff, and families, she plans to remind her fellow graduates that “kindness is the most important thing in our future.” 

It’s a value she traces back through all those moves, all those different communities. From the halls of a small Kansas high school to the research laboratories of CSU Pueblo, she’s learned that genuine care for others transcends location. 

Would she return to Pueblo after medical school? “I would love to,” she says without hesitation. “Pueblo has been so kind and so good to me.” 

For now, though, she’s focused on the next step. Medical school starts in July. The young woman who once struggled with shyness will be walking into emergency rooms in a few years, meeting whoever comes through the door next. 

“That’s the most fun thing for me,” she says, a quiet confidence replacing any trace of that childhood reticence. In the laboratory basement, surrounded by the tools of her research, Amanda Stalder seems ready for whatever comes next.