Friends and Neighbors: Jason Lockwood

Staying involved has always been a priority for lifetime Kimballite Jason Lockwood, who continually challenges himself to do more.

"Inertia is a wonderful mechanism," he said. "Things in motion tend to stay in motion and I suppose I am one of those things always on the go."

Born to Jim and Teresa Lockwood, his family has farmed and ranched in Kimball County for four generations. His paternal grandmother, Wilma has lived her entire life in the Bushnell area and farmed there along side her husband.

Virginia Haywood, Lockwood's great-grandmother, ran the cafe in Bushnell for many years. She was a fabulous cook and people would travel many miles just to enjoy one of her famous pies or cabbage burgers.

His maternal great-great grandmother, Maude Evertson, homesteaded with her family west of the airport.

"She and her husband farmed and ranched on what is now land owned by Mick and Peggy Evertson," explained Lockwood, "I have fond memories of my great-great grandmother and remember her well. She passed away in 1985 at the age of 100."

Lockwood, a 1993 graduate of Kimball High School, began his first job at the age of 15 at KIMB radio, where he worked throughout high school.

"It was an enormously rewarding experience, I immediately fell in love with broadcasting," he said. "Those days at KIMB were the good old days when everything was done manually. There was no internet, no cell phones, and no computerized broadcasting. You had to watch the clock and pay attention to timing. We had a teletype machine that was hooked up to an old analog C band satellite dish and it printed Associated Press news nonstop until the paper would pile up on the floor behind it. It would run all night long and you would often find two or three feet of paper on the floor the next morning that had printed through the night."

Lockwood enjoys reminiscing about the 'ole KIMB days.

"Back then, if you wanted to play a song, you had to throw a record on a turntable or a cd in a cd player. It was always fun and annoying with the record would reach a scratched section and start skipping on the air. Of course the dreaded "dead air" of silence was always your biggest concern and your enemy and would most often happen while you were using the restroom between songs."

He states that he carries with him a lot of fond memories of the time and the people he once worked with.

"I will never forget Dave Farmer and his afternoon Hog & Feed report. I learned more about barrows and gilts than I ever thought possible from Dave and I don't even think he ever had pigs," he said.

According to Lockwood, Tom Southard was managing KIMB, Paul Anthony was doing mornings and sports play-by-play, and Lisa Rasmussen-Buescher, a fellow classmate of Lockwood also worked with him. "We made quite a team back then. I often think about those days and am saddened that Kimball no longer has a radio station."

Following high school, Lockwood attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln where he initially majored in music education but changed his major to finance and economics with a minor in music. He played the alto saxophone in the Cornhusker marching band for a short time, the university concert band, a small jazz ensemble and he did some piano accompaniment work on the side.

Returning from college in 1995, Lockwood worked at KSID Radio in Sidney as a board operator, later as a news director, and later as program director.

For the last decade Lockwood has worked full-time at George Risk Industries as a sales and marketing account manager and resides with his lifetime partner and friend, Blain Schilreff, whom he met after returning from a deployment with the National Guard in 2003.

Lockwood, as well as Schilreff, volunteers his time to the Kimball Concert Association board as the president, since 2002, and on the board since 1997.

"We've been busy trying to keep our local concert association operating," he said.

He as also served on the Kimball Airport Authority Board since 2009 and is currently Chairman.

Lockwood said there are many late nights when he finds himself getting just four to five hours a night, while keeping his busy schedule.

"It isn't easy and there is very little free time for me," he said. "I suppose my obsessive-compulsive nature is an advantage. I don't have cable or satellite television as there is no time in my schedule to watch it, although I do stream some films when the rare occasion presents itself, but truth be told, I would much rather read or do research."

He has served on the City of Kimball Planning Commission, City Council and has served for numerous years as the chairman of the Kimball County Republican Party

"I have always tried to give back to my community and country in some small ways," he said.

Lockwood is currently studying cyber-security full-time at Bellevue University after beginning his classes through the University of Phoenix.

"I started taking classes there and then in doing some due diligence, I realized that their curriculum is nice, but they do accelerated courses. You're taking a whole semester in five weeks and you are taking one class at a time. You have to be really focused because there is a lot to cover in a very short amount of time," he said.

Lockwood did research on the degree that he wanted to pursue and found that Omaha-based Bellevue University is in the top ten cyber security colleges in the country and are also accredited with the Homeland Department of Security with University recruiters that work for the National Security Agency.

"This surprised me - in Nebraska of all places," he said.

Lockwood added that as early as grade school, he had developed a "geeky obsession for computers" when he received his first Apple II, likely prompting his interest in the field of cyber security.

"I was hooked from the moment I turned it on," he said, "computers and technology have always been a part of my life. I actually feel more comfortable around computers than people in many ways and I've been an A+ Certified computer technician for around ten years now."

Lockwood spend quite a bit of time and energy on his custom-built computers and in the process of removing malware from hundreds of computers his fascination with attack vectors, coding and methodology developed.

"I had become obsessed with information system security and assurance. The next logical extension was to go back to school and make this career the next chapter in my life. There are a number of high level certifications that I am currently working toward including my CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) and CISSP (Certified Information System Security Professional) and I'm hoping to eventually obtain a job as a CSO (Chief Security Officer), Cyber Security Director or perhaps as a Cyber Security Analyst for the NSA or DHS," he said.

He adds that cyber security jobs are in high demand due to hacking and system security breaches that are becoming common in today's world.

"The era of cyber warfare has already begun and it is an exciting time to be at this infancy of cyber security," he said.

The Veteran's Administration is currently paying 50% of his tuition under the post-911 G.I. bill, a tremendous help with skyrocketing tuition, according to Lockwood, whose goal is to graduate Summa Cum Laude.