Our Mississauga Campus

We are located at 295 Queen Street South in Streetsville, in the Lower Hall of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

Our Team

Megan

Discovery Studio Guide

With 14 years of experience working with children, Megan has dedicated her career to fostering a supportive and nurturing environment for young learners. After leaving the public school system, she embraced a holistic approach, incorporating training in forest learning, emotional regulation, and kids yoga. Megan believes in the innate genius of every child and strives to create environments where they can build trust within themselves, follow their passions, and master their unique gifts to share with the world.

As a lifelong learner, Megan is certified as a breathwork practitioner and in somatic trauma therapy. Her passion lies in aiding children to understand their nervous system responses and equipping them with tools to return to a state of safety, balance, and connection. Megan is committed to student-led education, authentic learning opportunities, and emotional well-being to guide children on their hero's journey to self-discovery and empowerment.

Sania

Sparks Studio Guide

With extensive experience in curriculum development and facilitating learning, Sania has dedicated her career to creating enriching and supportive environments for children. She worked closely with learners to foster curiosity, critical thinking, and a love for learning, adapting her approach to meet each child's unique needs and strengths.

Sania believes in empowering children to explore their passions, develop confidence, and cultivate self-awareness. She has a strong background in designing engaging educational experiences and guiding students through meaningful, hands-on learning opportunities. Her approach is centered on nurturing each learner's potential, encouraging collaboration, and supporting emotional and intellectual growth.

Passionate about student-led education and authentic learning experiences, Sania strives to inspire children to become confident, curious, and compassionate individuals, ready to thrive in all aspects of life.

Sasha

Event and Operations Lead

Meet Sasha, our dynamic Event and Operations Lead, who embodies the spirit of adventure and purpose. Inspired by Henry David Thoreau's words, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, Live the life you have imagined," Sasha brings her passion for innovative education to life at Acton Academy Mississauga. As the driving force behind our Children's Business Fairs, she expertly forges relationships and collaborates with others to create unforgettable experiences.

A dedicated mom to two young heroines on their own Acton journey, Sasha's love for this unique approach to education is contagious. When she's not leading events or cheering on her daughters, you can find her flowing through yoga poses, dancing to her favorite beats, or enjoying quality time with her girls.

Join Sasha and the Acton team in redefining education and unleashing the potential of young minds!

Catherine

After School Care and Art Lead

Catherine has an immense passion for bringing joy to the world through nurture and creativity. She is a Mississauga-based artist who is interested in exploring, creating, and transforming works surrounding notions of memory, grief, and fragmentation. Her practice in drawing mimics the stylizations of print media techniques that focus on specific textures and designs in two and three- dimensional forms. She holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Art and Art History and loves understanding the beauty in abstracted subject matters using her intuition to guide and motivate her own creative work, as well as her unique and gentle teachings.  

She is passionate about shaping young minds through the benefits of the arts and bringing communities together.

You can almost always find her immersed in a world filled with music at any given time of the day!

Sabrina

Owner and Parent

Sabrina has been on her own Hero's Journey to find an alternate way to pursue formal learning for her young son. Her perseverance for finding practical solutions to life's challenges led her to the "front doors" of Acton Academy and she dove right in!

She is thrilled to bring Acton Academy Mississauga to the Greater Toronto Area and spread the word about learner-driven education to local families. Sabrina is focused on building a community of a special mix of kind-hearted and tough-minded life long learners who can support Acton Academy Mississauga learners on their Heroes' Journeys and prepare them for the Next Great Adventure!

Our Advisors

Jeff Sandefer

Co-Founder - Acton Academy

Jeff Sandefer lives a dual life as an entrepreneur and a Socratic Guide. As an entrepreneur, he founded his first company at age 16 and went on to found or co-found seven successful businesses. As a Socratic teacher at the University of Texas, Jeff’s students five times voted him the school’s Outstanding Teacher and Businessweek named him one of the top Entrepreneurship professors in America.

Jeff went on to co-found the Acton School of Business, an MBA program perennially ranked by the Princeton Review among the best in the nation. In 2012 The Economist honored him as one of the top fifteen Business School professors in the world.

Jeff is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he served for over twenty years on the school’s governing committees. He was a longtime director of the Philanthropy Roundtable and National Review magazine and one of the youngest members ever elected to the Texas Business Hall of Fame.

Laura Sandefer

Co-Founder - Acton Academy

Laura lived on both US coasts and in between as a child, then settled into Vanderbilt University for her undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Science. After being awarded the highly competitive Walter Wattles Fellowship at Lloyd’s of London, Laura worked in the aviation insurance industry in New York City.

Deciding to follow her calling into the world of education, Laura returned to Nashville and earned her Master of Education at Peabody College. This led her to her work at the Oklahoma Arts Institute, creating fine arts education programs for teachers and talented high school students.

Laura married Jeff Sandefer and is the happy mother of Sam and Charlie and step-mother to Taite. It is the inspiration of these children that led Laura and Jeff to co-found Acton Academy.

Her greatest hero is her mother who was a Master Teacher. Her wisest mentor is her father who sent her off to college with two words of advice: "Be curious."

Our Promises

We promise through Socratic guiding and experiential learning to encourage each member of our community to:

  • 1

    Begin a Hero’s Journey,

  • 2

    Discover precious gifts and a commitment to mastery.

  • 3

    Become a curious, independent, life-long learner.

  • 4

    Embrace the forging of a strong character.

  • 5

    Cherish the arts, the physical world, and the mysteries of life.

  • 6

    Treasure economic, political, and religious freedom.

Acton School Guide

Our Beliefs

We believe clear thinking leads to good decisions, good decisions lead to the right habits, the right habits forge character, and character determines destiny.

  • 1

    We believe each person has a gift that can change the world in a profound way;

  • 2

    We believe in learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be.

  • 3

    We believe in a closely connected family of life-long learners.

  • 4

    We believe in economic, political, and religious freedom.

Acton School Guide

Our Economic Model

We believe self-directed, peer-to-peer learner-driven communities built by our young Heroes will deliver transformational learning at a cost all parents can afford.