Jonesboro senior becomes second person ever to win gold at UIL number sense competition each year of high school

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A Central Texas high school senior made history Tuesday after becoming only the second person in history to win a gold medal in the state’s UIL number sense competition all four years of high school, and he’s done it while overcoming the challenges of autism.

The only other person to achieve a four-year sweep of the competition was in 1979.

Luke Maxwell, 18, is a senior at Jonesboro High School, a 1A school northwest of Gatesville, and says he’s so proud to be a part of history.

“It makes me feel a lot of things, like I did something interesting, like I’m now a part of history,” Luke told KWTX. “Those are the main things. It’s a lot more, but those are the main things.”

Luke was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of high functioning autism, when he was 5 years old.

His mom, Betsy Spitzer, said she noticed her son being ‘labeled’ at a young age because of his condition, but she’s always told Luke he could accomplish anything.

“His gift is math,” she said. “He does all of this in his head.���

It’s a skill that’s come in handy for number sense. The competition gives students 80 difficult questions covering all high school mathematics courses and allows just 10 minutes to answer them with no erasures or mark outs. You also can’t use a calculator or scratch paper.

“His first two years of high school competition, I was his only coach,” Betsy said.

Luke brought home the gold his freshman year by four points and his sophomore year he won by two points.

Jonesboro had never had a gold medal winner before.

Last year, Betsy recruited her brother, Rich Spitzer, a 1988 state number sense competitor, to help.

Luke won the gold medal again.

“His margin of victory increased to 28 points last year,” Betsy said.

This year, a volunteer named Dennis Cabaniss, who coaches number sense in Salado and had a son who was a two-time state champion, volunteered to help Luke.

He coached him via Facetime and increased his margin of victory to a staggering 113 points.

“Between my brother and Mr. Cabaniss, Luke improved to achieve his highest personal score ever, which would have won first place in divisions 2A, 3A and 4A,” Betsy said.

Betsy said she credits God, her son’s hard work and a supportive community for helping Luke overcome the odds.

“We want to make sure any and all credit is given to God almighty for blessing Luke with this gift,” she said. “And for placing all the right people in Luke’s life at the right times.”

Luke’s team won silver this year, becoming the first academic team in Jonesboro history to medal at state.

Luke will graduate Jonesboro High School next Friday and will walk the stage as either the Valedictorian or Salutatorian. Right now, it’s too close to call.

Luke plans to study at MCC and pursue a computer science degree. He says his backup plan is to become a writer for a comedy show.

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