Twice this year, Liam Reddy ’26 sat down at a desk on the other side of the world with nothing but a pencil, a handful of impossibly hard math problems, and an enduring passion to explore complex challenges. He represented the United States on the biggest, global stages in mathematics, and both times he came home with results that have never before been achieved by a student from Utah.

In February, Liam traveled to Bucharest for the Romanian Master of Mathematics (RMM), one of the most demanding invitational competitions in the world. He placed first individually with a score of 35 out of 42, helping Team USA to a second-place finish. Five months later, he was in Shanghai to compete in the 67th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) against hundreds of the best young mathematicians from 117 countries. He returned with a perfect score – 42 out of 42 – one of only seven perfect scores earned anywhere in the world, a gold medal, and another Team USA second overall finish. 

A perfect score at the IMO is rare in any year. Doing it as a Waterford student, the first student in IMO history to represent the state of Utah, and in the same year as a first-place finish at RMM is the kind of accomplishment that doesn’t come along often, if ever.

A Foundation Built Since Second Grade

Liam’s path to international success began in a Waterford Lower School classroom, where he discovered that he loved chasing hard problems just as much as he loved solving them. By third grade, he had already won his division in Utah’s Mission Math Competition. By sixth grade, he had entered single-variable calculus, a course many people don’t encounter until well into their college career. By the time he graduated from Waterford this past June, Liam had worked his way through linear and abstract algebra, real and complex analysis, combinatorics, and topology, alongside advanced research through the MIT PRIMES-USA program and two gold medals and a silver in the USA Mathematical Olympiad.

Math Department Chair Megan Orton, who has watched Liam grow from student to teammate to mentor, put it simply when presenting him with this year’s Math Department Prize at the Upper School closing awards ceremony: “Liam’s ability to think abstractly sets him apart as a generational talent, and listing all of his accomplishments would feel infinitely long.”

But what makes Liam’s story a Waterford story isn’t only the scores. It’s what he did with the talent along the way.

Excellence and Caring

A liberal arts education asks students to become whole people, not just accomplished ones. Liam’s experience at Waterford gave him room to go as deep into mathematics as his curiosity would carry him. The school’s culture asked something else of him in return: to bring others along.

By all accounts, Liam did. He spent countless hours coaching younger students in Waterford’s Middle and Upper School math clubs, building curricula to help his teammates, and mentoring the next generation of Waterford mathematicians, including his own brother, Kiran Reddy ’25, a fellow Utah Math Olympiad standout. His quiet leadership showed up beyond competitions and exemplifies both excellence (starting with effort), and caring, which illustrates we learn best when we lift each other up along the way.

Gratitude All Around

Liam has been eager to share the credit. He thanked the Mathematical Association of America (MMA) for “the honor of representing the US on the international stage,” Waterford School for supporting his “growth as a mathematician, student, and person from 2nd grade through graduation,” and his family for their “unwavering support and investment.” He called the chance to represent the United States at RMM and the IMO “the honor of a lifetime, and a fantastic way to close my high school career.”

Liam’s parents, Drs. Vivek and Cara Reddy, have been fixtures at Waterford math competitions for years. The community that formed around a shared love of problem-solving among teachers, teammates, and family is exactly the kind that Waterford hopes to build for every student, whether their passion is mathematics, music, the microscope, or something else entirely.

What Comes Next

Liam is now starting his first year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to continue his mathematics education and research. It’s a fitting next chapter for a student who has always been curious about complex problems and believes that hard questions are worth exploring for their own sake.

Congratulations, Liam. Waterford couldn’t be prouder to call you one of ours.

As a demonstration of their gratitude for the school, the math faculty, and to support future students, such as Liam, the Reddy family established the The Reddy Family Endowed Fund for Mathematics.