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The teamTwo Burlington educators. One shared conviction.
Scholar's Studio is co-founded by Vaishali Sridhar and Sonia Abbas. They both built places they wished existed for their own kids. Now they're building one together.
Scholar's Studio started as a question two Burlington educators kept asking each other: why isn't anyone teaching math and language this way?
Vaishali had built BioTroopers, the hands-on biology program where kids leave fascinated. Sonia had built Ashwood Glen, the IB boutique school where those camps already run. Both kept hearing the same thing from parents: my kid is being drilled, and starting to hate it. So they built what they wished existed.
Vaishali Sridhar
Molecular biologist and mom of two. Vaishali spent more than a decade in academia, pharma, and health tech (Lonza Biologics, Affinivax/GSK) before founding BioTroopers in 2022.
She started BioTroopers because she wanted her own kids, and every kid, to feel what it's like to actually do science instead of just read about it. BioTroopers already runs camps at Ashwood Glen, and Scholar's Studio is the natural next chapter.
"My kid does not have to be a calculator. I want her to have logic. I want her to think critically. That's the whole program."
Sonia Abbas
Founder and director of Ashwood Glen School in Burlington, where she has spent the last five years building the kind of school she wished existed for her own kids.
A former banker with an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan, she left finance to follow a quieter conviction: that children grow best in small, thoughtful classrooms that take both their curiosity and their character seriously. Named Female Entrepreneur of the Year by the Canada-Pakistan Business Council in 2024.
"Real learning happens when kids feel safe enough to be wrong, and curious enough to try again."
Built here. For here.
Scholar's Studio isn't a franchise — it's a passion project created to inspire curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong love of learning.
Conveniently located in the heart of Burlington, Scholar's Studio is designed to be a welcoming learning hub for families across the community.
Hosted at the Ashwood Glen campus, children learn in spacious, naturally lit classrooms that inspire curiosity, creativity, and collaboration — providing an engaging environment where every child can explore, grow, and thrive.
