A shared love for Dr Pepper has brought together a community of students at Grossmont College this semester.

What started as a joke among friends, ended up creating the PepperUp Grossmont Club, which has reached many students and formed a community of the soft drink’s lovers on campus.

Caden Gilbert, the president and co-founder of PepperUp, mentioned it all happened over lunch with his friends.

“We all had Dr Pepper, and I said, ‘Oh, welcome to the first meeting of Dr Pepper Club,”” Gilbert said. “After that, I thought, ‘Hey, what if we made that a thing?’”

While Gilbert never expected he would attempt to make the club official, the existence of PepperUp spread rapidly throughout campus.

Kinesiology student and Pepperup member Elizabeth Perry was introduced to the club by a friend. “She had told me there was this new club for us, Dr Pepper friends… it is my favorite soda,” Perry stated.

The response of students has been significant. Members of the community are actively sending pictures with their favorite beverage PepperUp’s Instagram account, grossmontdoctorpepperclub, in support of the club’s attempt to be official.

However, to be official, the club needs five people to fulfill positions of responsibility, such as treasurer and secretary, and, most importantly, a faculty advisor who would like to support.

Meetings will consist of board and card games, with a Dr Pepper refreshment. 

As the club is still new, its board is open to suggestions on new ways to attract new members to their meetings. 

When brainstorming for future activities, Perry said, “I think it would be a cool activity trying to guess what flavor Dr Pepper is which,” referring to a popular TikTok trend of people blind tasting different flavors of soda.

Although unofficial, PepperUp started its meetings on Feb. 26. The club plans to meet every Wednesday in Griffin Center, but this is subject to change, as they find the most convenient time for members.