Our Story
Hi there! We’re Chris and Sheryl, dad and mom to two wonderful girls, Frankie and Veronica. We’re probably not so different from you. We’re parents who want the best for our children, for their education and for how they spend their precious childhood days. We believe every child is bestowed with unique gifts and passions, and the potential to change the world in a profound way. It is our responsibility to inspire and equip them to realize this innate potential and to encourage them to pursue their own Hero’s Journey.
We were so captivated by Acton Academy – with its emphasis on the pursuit of one’s life purpose, the freedom and responsibility given to children, and the attainment of skills that will prepare them for a meaningful life in the 21st century. The more we learned, the more inspired we became. Then, in 2023, opportunity came knocking and we said yes to our own Hero’s Journey, bringing this revolutionary model to Nanaimo for our children and for yours.
Meet the Team
Our team of guides and assistant guides is small, compassionate and committed.
Owner and Lead Guide
Sheryl Mann
Sheryl is the co-founder and lead guide at Acton Academy Nanaimo. She's a mom with a passion for preserving the joy and excitement for learning in her children and others. She believes childhood is sacred and precious, and that every child is a genius with unique potential.
A lover of quotes, she has many favourites, but when pressed to choose just one this rises to the top......
"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears." Nelson Mandela
Lead Spark Studio Guide (ages 5 - 6)
Erin Mazzei
Miss Erin brings 22 years of experience in the Montessori setting, including 18 years co-owning and operating a Montessori childcare centre here in Nanaimo. She is our Lead Sparks Guide, supporting children from Kindergarten to Grade 1 during this important stage of their development.
Erin is deeply passionate about education and dedicated to guiding and encouraging children as they grow. She especially enjoys fostering independence and building foundational skills in printing, math, and language. Making learning fun, engaging, and meaningful is at the heart of everything she does.
Erin's favourite quote is "Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed." Maria Montessori
Discovery Studio Guide (ages 7 - 12)
Morgan Meredith
Morgan is a passionate advocate for children. With her experience as a foster parent, as a mother to an Acton learner, and as an ongoing entrepreneur, she brings to Acton a desire to provide our learners with the space, consistency, and framework best suited to learning and growth. She is currently taking part in Montessori training and has, over the past three years, researched a large range of emotion-focussed family communication approaches. Morgan is honored to be part of each learner's growth and life journey at Acton.
Morgan's quote of choice is: "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Jane Goodall
Our Acton Advisors
Jeff Sandefer, Co-Founder
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 Princeton Review among the best in the nation. In 2012 the Economist honoured 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
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 awareded 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 eared 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."
We believe each child has a special gift, and our role is to inspire them with great stories from the past to be the heroes on their own hero's journey.
Jeff Sandefer
Our Promises
At Acton Academy, we promise you will:
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.
We believe each person has a gift that can change the world in a profound way.
We believe in learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be.
We believe in a closely connected family of life-long learners.
We believe in economic, political, and religious freedom.
