Inflation drastically affecting Mr. Medina's Battle to Obtain Coke Zero Leaves Teachers and Students Concerned 

With the soccer season winding down, Mr. Manuel Medina’s Coke Zero addiction faces a new challenge. With a recent inflation rate spike of 8.26%, the price of this habit has gone up, leading to more severe consequences. The frosh/soph soccer team has been a handful this year, and Mr. Medina needs all the help he can get, including the red can. 

“He made us run for the whole practice after a freshman took his can,” said David Frausto. And it is not just on the field where he struggles with this addiction. He also faces this problem while teaching too. 

“His wife only lets him buy four cases a month, which will disappear in two weeks,” said Ms. Kerrie Fagan, a fellow English teacher. “Sometimes when I tell him I am restocking my classroom supplies, he will ask me to bring back a case of Coke Zero instead of Expo markers.” 

When confronted about this issue, Mr. Medina claimed that he can not teach without Coke Zero. Additionally, he had no comment about teaching without the drink pulsing through his blood. “I know there is a problem every time I get out of my car cans fall out. I'll quit after soccer season I think,” Medina said, promising the same thing last year.  

The school cafeteria was selling Coke Zero on September 29th. Medina heard the news and ditched his English 3 class to buy the entire stock of the soda. Students appreciated the free period.  He reportedly left the lunch line carrying thirty-seven cans to add to his stockpile. Sources Say that the cans he bought were gone in three days. 

There is not a clear answer to Medina’s problems, discovered by students that tried to help the challenged English teacher. “I asked him, why don't you try drinking water instead of Coke Zero,” said Frausto. “Then my grade suspiciously dropped 45%.”  It is unknown what chemical is in Coke Zero that makes it so desirable.

“The Cokes he drinks have 34 mg of caffeine in 12 oz which is very low,” said Mr. Julius Henry, MC’s athletic trainer and Health teacher “Research finds that people build a tolerance to their adenosine receptors being blocked. Adenosine receptors when blocked keep people awake or feel like they have more energy. Consumption of caffeine leads to people blocking these receptors. The receptors are used to being blocked. When they are not we then get sleepy, leading to us wanting to not be sleepy. We then block them by consuming more caffeine leading to an ‘addiction,’ which isn't an actual bodily craving, more of a mental/sleep preventing craving. The daily limit is suggested to stay under is 400 mg so he could drink 9 a day almost a whole case and be safe as far as ‘addiction’ goes. What I find more comedic is that caffeine is a diuretic that causes people to have to use the restroom and slow consumption of caffeine over a long period of time leads to a lot more bathroom breaks.”   

Medina is presented with a long term choice that could change his life. He must Either quit drinking soda or start to budget better.  “Last year was not a problem,” said Medina. “I had former MC Algebra 1 teacher Dominic Villa help me budget so I could afford both. However, since he left MC, I really don't know what to do.”  Medina got the idea to save the cans and turn them into a recycling plant, but storing them in his car is taking up too much space. He reportedly spends more time chasing soda cans in the parking lot rather than writing soccer plays. 

Medina realizes that it is time to read the writing on the wall. “I have decided to stop drinking Coke Zero,” he recently declared. “This time I will slowly drink and buy less soda and will search for a new caffeine alternative.”  

Worried students breathed a collective sigh of relief for their beloved teacher. Not everyone is convinced, though.

“He said the same thing in his second year of teaching and was actually soda free for a week,” says Fagan. “But then during the faculty Christmas party, he was offered one and fell back into his unhealthy habits.” 

Will Medina quit drinking Coke Zero, or will he continue his unhealthy spiral? No matter what happens he will need the help and support from the Mount Carmel students.