Ryan Burwell finds opportunity in embracing the unpredictable

Nov. 10, 2026

People of Georgian shares the personal stories of the students, alumni and employees who make our college community unique. Meet Ryan Burwell, whose path from film school to teaching and entrepreneurship took some unexpected turns. Now, he draws on those experiences to help Georgian students explore ideas, make connections and find their own way forward.

I was going to be an engineer. From the time I was six until about 16, that was the plan. I loved math and art, and engineering seemed like the perfect way to bring them together. Like a lot of young people, I figured my path would be pretty straightforward.

Then, in my last year of high school, an English teacher showed me some of the possibilities of storytelling. I put engineering on hold and went to Queen’s University to study film. I’m glad I did. There was still plenty of technology to explore, but I also got to develop this other part of myself.

After graduating, I had an opportunity to continue into graduate studies. Instead, I decided to travel. Watching films from different parts of the world had made me curious about everything beyond my own backyard. I felt comfortable in a classroom, and I wanted to challenge myself to learn somewhere else.

Coming home was… a little less exciting.

I was living in my parents’ basement, working nights stocking shelves at a local grocery store while I figured out what to do next. During the winter, there were stretches when I barely saw the sun. After travelling and doing a degree I loved, I felt stuck.

My path has had plenty of twists and turns. What I hope students take from it is that the world is a huge, messy, interesting place. The more you get out there and experience it, the more you bring back to your life and your work.

I needed to do something that made me feel like I was in the driver’s seat again. I’d already pitched a guitar course to an adult education centre and had some success teaching it. That got me thinking: could I do something similar with a film program?

A friend worked at a small alternative school in Toronto, so I asked whether they might be interested. He encouraged me to write up a proposal. That led to an interview and a chance to demonstrate the program for a week. They hired me for the summer, and I ended up staying five years.

I loved that school. I got to build programs, deliver them and become a better educator. Getting a room full of high school students interested in something will teach you a lot about how to make an idea connect.

I felt so at home that I thought, “This is it. I can work here until I retire.”

Then the school went out of business.

A group of us got together and started another school. We found a beautiful space in downtown Toronto, and I built on the programs I’d developed. I even moved next door. Once again, I thought I’d found the place where I would spend the rest of my career.

Yes, you learn from failure. But failure can still be incredibly painful. You don’t learn resilience just by talking about it. You learn it by going through something difficult and finding a way to continue.

Three years later, that school closed too.

That one took time to work through. I’d put my heart into building something I loved, and suddenly it wasn’t there anymore. I was down for close to a year.

When I talk to entrepreneurs about resilience, I think that part matters. Yes, you learn from failure. But failure can still be incredibly painful. You don’t learn resilience just by talking about it. You learn it by going through something difficult and finding a way to continue.

As I started picking myself up, I reached out to people and asked what else was out there. Until then, most of my life had been spent in classrooms, first as a student and then as a teacher. There were possibilities I hadn’t considered.

Someone I’d worked with shared a job posting for Twenty One Toys, a company using wooden toys to teach skills like empathy, resilience and creativity. When I met the founder and learned more, it felt like a chance to bring together what I loved about education and what I was learning about entrepreneurship.

I spent the next 13 years there, and I still do some facilitation and consulting with them. It was an adventure. We were building a company from the ground up and convincing people that wooden toys could be tools for innovation. There was always a new challenge to work through.

We worked out of the Centre for Social Innovation, where I met people who helped me explore other ways to use my experience. Those connections led to designing entrepreneurship camps at MaRS and, eventually, an invitation to lead an innovation session at Georgian about 10 years ago.

I fell in love with the community here. I met educators who cared deeply about their students and wanted to give them tools to build a career. Given everything I’d been through, that really spoke to me.

That’s part of what I love about hackathons. Students work with an industry partner on a real challenge, learn as much as they can, develop a solution and pitch it back. They get to bring their ideas to people who might become part of their future careers.

I know how much those connections can matter. So many opportunities in my own life started with a conversation, a question or a chance to show someone what I could do.

My path has had plenty of twists and turns. What I hope students take from it is that the world is a huge, messy, interesting place. The more you get out there and experience it, the more you bring back to your life and your work.

Don’t shy away from things that are scary or messy. They can lead to the most interesting experiences.