º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍø

That school happens to be the University of Waterloo, where Osher is the youngest student to be enrolled as an undergraduate, as far back as the head of admissions can remember in the 20 years he’s worked at the school.

“It feels great,” he said of his time in university so far, while sitting at a picnic table on Waterloo’s campus on a sunny September day.

As one would expect for an 11-year-old university student, Osher is incredibly smart.

The Star first spoke with Osher and his parents, Lori Ahn and Michael Clifford, in 2018 before the then-four-year-old was just about to start senior kindergarten. At the time, Osher had already been a part of Mensa, the society for people with high IQs, for a year, becoming the youngest Canadian member at the time.

In the seven years since, Osher has continued to learn at his own pace. He mainly taught himself for most of grade school after asking to be home-schooled halfway through Grade 1. Once he started learning more advanced math, his mom, Lori, helped find him some mentors from Waterloo and the University of Toronto. He also discovered a love of coding when he was seven, after learning the Python coding language from online Art of Problem Solving courses.

Even before becoming a full-time computer science and math student in 2023 when he was nine, Osher had already moved to Waterloo with his family to take a couple of first-year math courses when he was seven. Now he’s finishing his second year, following a one-year break from his full-time studies for internships at Shopify and Cohere.

(While Lori said other companies said “no” to hiring a then-10-year-old, Shopify and Cohere were “thrilled” to have Osher and that he learned a lot.)

Despite his rare intelligence and a resumé that many other university students might envy, Osher doesn’t see himself as different from anyone else.

“I’m just here to learn and feel challenged,” he said, adding he doesn’t think about what others might make of him.

His parents Lori and Michael said this is intentional; they want their son to feel like any other kid.

While they have frequently talked with Osher about his giftedness, Lori and Michael said they have always tried to avoid putting pressure on him, emphasizing that it was ultimately Osher’s decision to go to university.

The parents also don’t like speaking publicly about Osher’s intelligence — they were at first reluctant to speak with the Star again — out of fear that their son will be stereotyped as just some Young Sheldon-esque whiz kid.

“Giftedness doesn’t define him,” Lori said, sitting next to her son during his interview.

Michael chimed in from across the picnic table that an outsider might think Osher acts more like an adult since he’s in university. “But to us and (Osher) especially,” he’s just a kid, the dad said.

The same goes for their daughter, Anais, who is also “accelerated” in math, according to Lori. Anais said she understood how Osher solved a particular math problem as a Star photographer took their picture.

Part of what has made university so much fun for Osher is the ability to learn and explore new topics whenever he wants.

“I can’t imagine what life would be like if I wasn’t able to learn at my own pace,” he said.

Math and computer science are particularly exciting because they’re just about problem-solving, and it feels satisfying when you finally get an answer to a hard question, said Osher.

“I also like that I can build (computer programs) for myself and for other people,” he added, talking about computer science specifically.

This love of STEM in part led Osher to enrol at Waterloo, along with his mentor, Waterloo associate professor Robert Garbary.

The pair have worked together since Osher was seven after Lori contacted Waterloo’s Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, a program aimed at outreach and inspiring grade-school-age kids to learn and work in math and computer science. Garbary is affiliated with the program.

“It was clear very quickly that this was the real deal,” Garbary said as he recalled watching Osher solve a series of high school-level math problems during their first Zoom session. “He was seven at the time, but I would say he was very mathematically strong for say a 15-year-old.”

While Garbary doesn’t see Osher as often now that the 11-year-old has completed all his math course requirements for his computer science degree, the professor still considers his time with his mentee as one of the highlights of his career. He still remembers the Christmas cards made of construction paper and covered in different colours and sparkles that Osher would send him every year.

“He seems to be thriving and really enjoying university,” Garbary said. “It’s just been absolutely amazing watching him grow.”

Like other 11-year-olds, Osher doesn’t know what his future looks like.

While he’s loved the jobs he’s had and wants to “solve big problems,” he said it’s hard to predict what comes next after university.

For now, he’s just happy being a kid. After the interview, Osher started running around in a nearby patch of grass with his sister as his parents figured how to get to the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association’s annual carnival.

The carnival is typically just for university-age students, but the organizers make an exception for Osher to go on the rides with his dad every year. His favourite is the Tilt-a-Whirl.

“He’s been looking forward to the fair for a while,” Lori said with a chuckle.

Correction - Sept. 14, 2025

This article was updated from a previous version to clarify that Osher moved to Waterloo when he was seven, not nine. It has also been updated to say that Osher is finishing is second year, not starting it, after taking a one-year break from his full-time studies. Osher is also completing a computer science degree, not one in math.