Three-hundred sixty five days a year. Students learn that when they are in elementary school, but it’s not exactly true. Every 4 years there is an extra day in the year, and it’s called a leap year. The leap day is added as February 29th each time it comes around.
“I have no idea what it is, everytime it comes around I forget that it exists,” Freshman Ben Garber said.
The reason we have leap days is because that extra day is needed for calendars to line up with the seasons. The solar year that controls seasons is approximately 365.2422 days long as stated by the National Air and Space Museum. Although .2422 days doesn’t seem like much, if it isn’t lined up, over time, the seasons will not be on the same months or days as they should be.
“I don’t find it too necessary, but I mean, it’s just kind of there,” freshman Finn Johnson explained.
Around 5 million people worldwide have a birthday on a leap day and can only celebrate their birthday once every 4 years. Sophomore student Angeline Urbina goes through this every year as she was born on leap day.
“Time passes and you’re growing, but you don’t have a day to celebrate it” Urbina stated.
People born on leap days are called leapers, or leaplings. Even if people’s birthdays are on February 29th they can also celebrate on the first of March 1 such as their 21st birthday, join the military and collect social security.
“It’s not fair because you’d want to celebrate on the day you were actually born, not on a day that you weren’t,” freshman Londyn Chastant stated.