Throughout a relatively short life, Keyonn L. Pope has managed to amass an impressive list of accomplishments. His vision and desire to establish Onward & Upward Youth Outreach is his way of giving back to the community that has invested so much in him; as W.E.B. Dubois admonished everyone to do in the coining of the phrase, "The Talented Tenth."
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Pope attended Southern University Agricultural and Mechanical College (SUBR) located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and graduated as the top graduate in his department.
As a student at Southern, Pope went beyond the call of duty, as he sought to increase the rigor of his academic experience by becoming a member of the Honors College. As a participant in the Honors College curriculum he completed the requirements for an Honors Degree, which included additional coursework as well as an independent study thesis. His thesis, entitled The Design of a Remote Paging Device: To Reduce Frustration Caused by Misplacing Household Items, is now a part of both the Southern University Honors College and John B. Cade Library Archives. Pope also has a published technical paper entitled Integrated Circuit Design and Layout for a Random Sequence Counter Using L-EDIT. This paper was published in the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Gulf-Southwest Section Conference Proceedings.
During his tenure at SUBR, Pope held memberships in a number of technical organizations. Currently he holds professional affiliations with many of the same technical organizations he allied himself with at SUBR. Those professional affiliations include the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Eta Kappa Nu National Engineering Honor Society (former chapter president 2002-2003), and Beta Kappa Chi Science Honor Society.
Upon graduation Pope accepted a position at Caterpillar, Inc in Peoria, Illinois. At Caterpillar he served in various engineering roles before settling into the role as liasion between an engineering design group and the Intellectual Property Department. Some of his responsibilities as IP Liasion included conducting invention capture sessions, performing prior art searches, identifying strategic areas where patents were needed, and ensuring non-disclosure agreements were in place, just to name a few.
In August 2006, Pope resigned from employment at Caterpillar and embarked on yet another endeavor. He enrolled at the University of Illinois College of Law, in Champaign, Illinois, as a candidate for his Juris Doctrate degree which is projected for 2009. At the College of Law he has participated in the College's Negotiations Competition and is active in the Intellectual Property Law Society and the Black Law Students Association.
On a social and community service level, Keyonn is an active member of Mt. Calvary M.B. Church of Kankakee, Illinois (Pastor Alex T. Bond Jr.) and the Kappa Pi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. He also enjoys reading, working out, traveling, and music. Pope also works as a Staff Writer for Urban Ministries, Inc., a Realtor for Homequest of Illinois and serves as CEO of 7 Jewels Management LLC, the property development company he founded.
