The 2026 James Cado Scholarship has been awarded to Lexington High School senior Conner Soendker. He is the son of Kirk and Jennifer Soendker.

Conner plans to study Kinesiology at Southeast Missouri State University. He is on a partial athletic scholarship and will compete in Track and Cross County. At Lexington High School, he was a member of the National Honor Society, attended Missouri Boys’ State and was an All-State athlete in track and cross country.

The James Cado Scholarship was established and is maintained by Janet Cado, James’ wife and her family. Cado taught math, computer science and physics at Lexington High School for 35 years. He earned degrees from Lexington High School, Wentworth Military Academy, the University of Missouri and the University of Central Missouri.