Manteca High photo teacher’s career changed in a flash

Manteca High’s digital photography teacher Carol Creighton poses in front of her classroom on Nov. 4, 2024, at Manteca High School in Manteca, Calif. (SALVADOR PANIAGUA/The Tower)

Editor’s Note: This profile is part of a series of stories on Manteca High School teachers who discovered teaching only after starting their professional careers in another line of work.

By SALVADOR PANIAGUA 
The Tower 

Walking into Carol Creighton’s photography class, you’ll learn that there is no one else more qualified to teach photo than Creighton herself.  

Her loud laughter and bright smile while teaching perfectly projects her passion for photography. Ask her any questions about photography, from taking pictures to editing photos, and she’ll have an answer for you.  

Manteca High is home to many loyal and new Buffaloes. Though many might not wonder whether or not teaching was their first interest as a career, The Tower chased down multiple Manteca High teachers who first had a career before finding the classroom. 

Manteca High junior Gael Juarez receives photo editing advice from photography teacher Carol Creighton on November 1, 2024, at Manteca High School in Manteca, Calif. (SALVADOR PANIAGUA/The Tower)

Like Creighton.  

Creighton worked in the medical field for several years prior to teaching. She has done just about everything you can do in a medical office. She was an insurance biller and a receptionist. She has helped with EKGs, stress tests, and 24-hour halter monitors. She has drawn blood, given injections, and more. All amazing skills that you would never expect a high school photography teacher to have. 

“I didn’t choose it, it chose me,” Creighton said, sharing about how she got into the medical field. “My mom used to work for a doctor here in town and her office was next door to the pharmacy that we used.” 

Creighton recalls when the medical field chose her.  

When her twins were just 6 months old, she had to go to the pharmacy. It was during regular hours, so she decided to go to the medical office next door to say hello and show off her kids to the staff. She knew everyone who worked there, even though her mom had retired.

One of the workers said that they were going to need somebody to work there, and at the time, Creighton said a new hire didn’t need a lot of special training to be a medical assistant. She was trained on the job by a professional. In Creighton’s case, she shadowed a registered nurse.

Creighton worked at that clinic for about 9 months, but the nights were beginning to be too much.

After that clinic, she worked for another doctor where she was mostly in the front office as a receptionist. Although she worked in the front, she would sometimes help in the back where the doctor would do acupuncture in his office. She would pull the needles out of patients without being grossed out. Even though the acupuncture didn’t bother her, Creighton expressed that giving shots made her uneasy.

“I started teaching the year after my youngest (child) graduated,” she said, “so it was just a natural progression for me to go from being a mom around this campus and being involved in Boosters to being a teacher and still kind of getting to be a mom around campus.”

Creighton knew that she wanted to be a teacher from the time she was in sixth grade. She explains that getting married and having kids was an obstacle, so she didn’t go back to school to finish her bachelor’s degree (in business) until her youngest child was in eighth grade.

Up until then, photography was just a hobby and side business. She has worked for private people and companies. She’s photographed funerals, weddings, parties, senior pictures, family photos, and more. Creighton shares that teaching has always been there, it just took her a while to get to that point, and photography has been a part of her life since she got her first camera in sixth grade. 

When asked to choose between her two careers, Creighton likes teaching more, hands down.  

The reason being because this is what she’s always wanted to do and that she originally wanted to teach younger kids. It just so happened that a photography position opened up and she got to teach her passion every single day.  

She says she would never go back to her medical career and plans on staying at Manteca High School for a while. The anchors that keep Creighton teaching are her love for photography, students who are truly interested in learning, and her belief in students keeping her young.  

Creighton’s most memorable memory of being a teacher is when students come back to visit after graduating. It warms her heart to learn that she’s had an impact on someone enough that when they come back to school, she’s one of the people they come to visit. 

Creighton’s impact on students is a perfect projection of how she is as a teacher and as an overall human being.  

Manteca High sophomore Joseph Atalig is a student in Creighton’s photography class. He reveres her passion and technical knowledge. He also appreciates her concern for all students. 

“Ms. Creighton is one of the best teachers on campus,” he said, “and is always making sure students are on top of their work.”