What do you know about leap year? This year, February 2024 is a leap year which means the month has an extra day–February 29. We asked Edison students how much they knew about leap year, and this is what we found out. A lot of students did not know what leap year was or why leap year was established, but there are some students who did know. EIS student Arianna Romanini said, “I know that leap year is every four years, and an extra day is added to February. It happens because a full year is not all the way around the sun, so they needed an extra day in February.”
The real reason for leap year is because a full trip around the world is 365.25 days, but we usually round it to 365. We make up for this by adding an extra day to our calendar every 4 years at the end of February. When we took a poll of how many EIS students knew the reason for leap year, we found out many don’t know the history behind it. The results of our poll were that only ten people knew the history of the leap year and 19 people did not know the history. Leap year was introduced in 46 BCE in the Julian calendar.
Having a birthday on a leap year is rare, so rare that only 0.1% of the world’s population have a birthday on leap year. When we asked EIS students if they knew anyone with a birthday on leap year, EIS student sixth grader Natalie Reissman said, “I know someone with a birthday on leap year, so each year they just celebrate it on February 28th.”
Another EIS student, sixth grader Aneilya India Forbes said, “I have a friend who has a birthday on leap year.”
So, although there is only a one in 366 chance to be born on leap year, it means a lot of people have to celebrate their birthday the day before their birthday because they have a birthday only every four years. What would you do if your birthday was on leap year?
If you’re like us, you probably didn’t even realize it was a leap year in 2024. If you want to celebrate, Good Housekeeping found the best things to do on leap day, from making frog-themed crafts to going to the trampoline park for some high-powered leaps. Some suggestions are to write your future self a letter that you open in four years–on the next leap year. There are also food deals for leap year. For example, 7-Eleven is selling whole pizzas for $2.29 on leap day.
