Elisabeth Siedentop-Wing, special education teacher

Siedentop-Wing’s Pepsi passion began when she tried pop for the first time in college. Since then, she has chosen her favorite as Diet Pepsi over Coke.

Can you describe the sensation of taking a sip of Diet Pepsi?

If it is really, really, really, really cold, it’s nice and sparkly, and it kind of fizzles in my mouth. And it’s like a happy place. Like this explosion in your face. It’s happiness in the mouth.

What’s your soda schedule?

I’ll have a can in the morning, and then midday, like one [or] two o’clock when I start getting a slump. And that one usually takes a couple of hours for me to get through, because I’m all over the place. And then I will definitely have one at night.

Why is pop a fan favorite for teachers?

It gives us a little bit of the caffeine if we need it, when we need it. [And] some of us don’t drink coffee, so we go right to the pop.

What would it be like to give up Diet Pepsi?

I actually did try, and I went six weeks without diet. When I had gone to the doctor, and I was getting some tests, I was like, all right. I’m not gonna have [any]. The response I got from people [was], “Are you nuts? What is wrong with you? I don’t believe you.” But I did. And then I went back [to Pepsi when I went back to work].

Do you have any soda stories?

When I was working in Washington State, they had the Diet Pepsi cherry, [but] when I moved to Illinois, Illinois didn’t have it. So when I went back to visit, nobody knows this, but I loaded up my suitcase with Diet Pepsi cherry to bring it back to Illinois. It was smuggling, and I even called the Pepsi division here in Illinois and was like, “Why don’t you guys have the cherry here in Illinois?”