As the second semester of his senior year comes to a close, Jihad Beauchman ’06 is continuing to live life at an unusually fast pace, both literally and figuratively. An economics major who will attend either Harvard or Stanford Law School in the fall, Beauchman holds Yale’s records for indoor high jump, indoor triple jump and outdoor high jump. On the morning of Thursday, April 13, 2006, Beauchman returned to campus from a visit to Stanford — not actually having slept the night before — and proceeded with a typical day of classes and activities.

Thursday, April 13

10:30 a.m. — “Death” in Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona’s lecture hall with professor Shelly Kagan

Beauchman said he is taking “Death” because he became fond of Kagan’s teaching style after taking his introductory ethics class as a sophomore. Thursday’s lecture featured Kagan’s discussion of suicide and whether it could ever be considered a rational choice.

“I think [his style] is really engaging,” Beauchman said. “And, I’m taking it credit/D/fail, which is always a plus for a second-semester senior.”

11:30 a.m. — Discussion Section for “Death”

Despite the seemingly depressing nature of the class’ topics, Beauchman said section discussions tend to be rather upbeat and full of lively debate.

1:30 p.m. — “Information Economics” in William L. Harkness Hall with professor Lones Smith

Beauchman, who plans on studying sports law, said this seven-student senior seminar focusing on advanced game theory is a nice complement to what he has studied so far as an economics major.

“My presentation’s going to be next week and is about how much the free agent markets have driven up [professional sports] players’ salaries,” he said.

3:30 p.m. — Track and Field practice

With the Ivy League championships coming up, Beauchman said practices are becoming increasingly difficult. At the track on the Intramural fields, Beauchman and the team practiced high jump and ran sprints.

“Today my legs were sore from a practice I’d done earlier in the week,” he said. “This time of year the intensity goes up and volume goes down, which means quick hard sprints to train our legs to fire rapidly.”

5:45 p.m. — Lifting weights in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium varsity weight room

After practice, the team headed back to PWG to lift weights together. Thursday’s lift was a quick one, Beauchman said, and it focused on legs and shoulders. Beauchman set a new record by doing 42 clap pushups in a row.

7 p.m. — Work, Afro-American Cultural Center

Beauchman works at the Af-Am House for three hours every Thursday night. The organization recently held a conference for New Haven high school freshmen to promote higher education by introducing the students to young black role models on campus.