Welcome to In Conversation with… where Melaina, our wellness and travel editor, connects with thought leaders, vision seekers and changemakers in the wellness industry to lean into all of the feelings, emotions and memories that come with understanding our core wants in needs through different healing modalities. From learning about Human Design to the benefits of cold plunges, Melaina meets with folks who are changing the landscape for the better. Read on, for here are there stories.
Meet Gillian Berard, Founder of Infinity Academy
Website | Social Media
Share a little bit about your story and the history of Infinity Academy.
Infinity Academy is a project-based, nature-rooted school on 17 acres in Ridgeway, Ontario. Founded by two former teachers and a former nurse who worked in their industries for over a decade, our school was created out of a shared realization that there were gaps in these institutions—and that it was time to build something new.
To bring this vision to life, Cathay and Jenna, moved over 500 km to join Gillian in Ridgeway, and together we began creating a new kind of learning environment—one rooted in true vitality, deep curiosity, and academic rigor. At Infinity Academy, we are project-based, meaning we follow our students’ interests and design learning around what genuinely excites them. We are also nature-rooted, weaving the seasons and the natural world into our everyday learning. Our approach is future-driven while getting back to our roots—teaching real-life skills and intentionally integrating academic subject content in meaningful ways. With two yurt classrooms and a big vision for what’s to come, we currently serve students from Pre-K to Grade 6, and will continue growing each year until we reach Grade 8.
As a former teacher myself, I also found it challenging to creatively teach in the chaos of a classroom. Was there a specific moment you knew you had to leave the traditional school system and build something unique?
About two and a half years ago, our brother passed away, and when you lose someone you love that deeply, it changes everything. It shifted my entire perspective on life. I was suddenly so aware that time is not guaranteed, and I didn’t want to spend my life stuck in a cycle of complaining about a system that wasn’t working—while constantly fighting through red tape just to make small changes.
That loss became a turning point. I stopped waiting for permission to create something different and decided it was time to follow my dreams and build the kind of school I always wished existed.
I also couldn’t have done any of this without my mom and sister. They moved 500 km with their families to join me, and together we became this incredible team that is expanding. We believe you only get a finite amount of time in this physical body, so you should live it fully and courageously—doing what you’re here to do.
Photo: Infinity Education
How do you balance being grounded in the Ontario Curriculum standards while fundamentally reimagining what education can be at Infinity?
At Infinity, we balance being grounded in the Ontario Curriculum while reimagining education by aligning with the literacy and numeracy expectations—but not being limited by them. We see the
curriculum expectations as the “what” to teach, but we get to decide the “how”, and for us that “how” is most often rooted in hands-on, experiential learning.
Anyone who has spent time reading the Ontario Curriculum can see that the expectations can be naturally woven into real-life skills and meaningful experiences. Instead of teaching subjects in isolated blocks, we design learning through projects that intentionally integrate multiple subject areas. This approach helps students build understanding in a way that feels connected, purposeful, and memorable.
We also believe strongly in balance. Alongside project-based learning, we provide explicit instruction in literacy and numeracy, ensuring students build strong foundational skills. Students then apply those skills authentically through the project process.
We also use digital tools to personalize learning programs, meeting students where they’re at and helping them move forward with confidence. And we’re able to do this in a meaningful way because of our smaller class sizes, which allow for individualized support, and learning that is truly responsive to each child.
Share with us an unexpectedly joyful moment you’ve witnessed at Infinity – the kind where kids are so absorbed in what they’re doing they forget it’s “school”?
Our students host both a Christmas Market and a Spring Market in our forest classroom, where they go through the full experience of creating and running a small business for their entrepreneurial project. From brainstorming ideas and planning products, to making handmade items, pricing them, setting up their booth, and selling to real customers—it’s the entire entrepreneurial process from start to finish.
What makes it so special is the energy. The kids are completely absorbed in what they’re doing. They’re not thinking about it as “school” at all—they’re just proud, excited, and fully in their element. And the best part is that they are SO excited that they happily come to school on a Saturday to run their booths.
Seeing students genuinely want to come to school on a weekend is one of those moments that stops you in your tracks and reminds you: this is what learning is supposed to feel like.
Photo: Infinity Education
What does a typical day look like when philosophical inquiry meets chicken-tending and maple syrup making?
A typical day at Infinity is shaped by the season—so during maple syrup harvesting, the rhythm of learning becomes a blend of academic focus, real-life responsibility, and outdoor wonder.
We usually begin by coming together as a group for a focused math lesson, using skills that connect directly to what students are doing in the sugar bush. That might look like measuring sap, exploring capacity and volume, collecting data, or creating graphs to track how much sap we’ve gathered over time. The learning is grounded, purposeful, and immediately relevant.
After the lesson, we head outside to our forest classroom, where students dive into the hands-on work of harvesting—tending to sap lines, collecting and transporting sap, and doing the daily tasks involved in the process. Naturally, learning expands into science, health, and environmental connections, because students are experiencing it firsthand.
During this time, we also build in purposeful responsibilities for older students—like chopping and stacking wood to support our outdoor spaces and seasonal work. It becomes an authentic life-skill lesson in strength, teamwork, and contribution.
From there, students have time for free play in the forest, followed by lunch.
In the afternoon, we come back together for an explicit literacy lesson that aligns with our maple syrup project. Students might work on a meaningful writing piece such as a brochure or guide on how to harvest maple syrup—practicing structure, clarity, and real-world communication.
Then we head back outside again to tend to our animal chores—collecting eggs, feeding the goats, caring for our environment—followed by even more outdoor time and free play.
It’s a day where learning feels alive: philosophical inquiry meets real work, and students build academic skills through experiences that truly matter.
For parents whose children are struggling or being labeled in traditional schools – is it the child who needs to change, or the system?
If a seed isn’t growing, you don’t blame the seed. You look at the conditions around it: the soil, the light, the water, the space, the season. You change the environment so the seed can do what it was designed to do. Nature’s rules apply to humans too.
And I also want to acknowledge how challenging this can be for teachers. So many educators work incredibly hard to support their students, but ultimately the environment and circumstances—large class sizes, limited resources, and rigid systems—can become huge barriers to what they’re truly capable of doing.
At Infinity, we focus on building that environment—one where kids can grow with confidence, vitality, and a genuine love of learning.
