For years, Cindy Nielsen raced to give children a love for science.

She’d hook one plastic car to a 2-liter bottle of cola and another to a bottle of lemon-lime pop. Then she’d drop Mentos mints in the bottles—which pushed the pop out—and let students see which car went farther.

The experiment could get messy.

“Usually, the teacher ends up drenched and the kids think that is just wonderful,” Nielsen said. “It’s fine. It washes off. If you teach science, you’ve got to be willing to get messy.”

Nielsen conducted lots of science experiments during her 44-year teaching career. This year, she retired as a third-grade teacher at Archbishop Bergan Elementary School in Fremont.

Read more in this story from the Fremont Tribune.