Every year when people have birthdays they are always asked how old they are turning. When sophomore Sofia Kielczewski said that she is four years old, people who have just met her are usually confused. She was born on a leap day which only comes around every four years. This year her “sweet 16” was actually her “ferocious four.” 

“When it’s not a leap year and people ask me how old I’m turning I’ll say like four and ¼ and they are always [super confused],” said Kielczewski.

Leap day is not a new concept. The first leap day was created by Julius Caesar of Rome in 46 BCE. He added an extra day to the calendar every 4 years so that the calendar matched the Earth’s orbit of the sun. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII created the Gregorian calendar that we use today. This new calendar had 97 leap days in 400 years so that there was very little human error in the year.

Some people are lucky to be born on one of those 97 days. Currently there are about five million people in the world with leap day birthdays, and the chances of being born on a leap day is 1 in 1,461. Kielczewski is one of those lucky individuals. She also shares a birthday with some famous people like Tyrese Haliburton, Ferrán Torres, Ja Rule, and Tony Robbins. 

Kielczewski doesn’t think that having a leap day birthday is anything really special. Every non-leap year she will celebrate her birthday on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1. She says that a lot of the time people will ask her which day to wish her a happy birthday but she always says it doesn’t matter.

“It’s better to have two birthdays than one,” said Kielczewski.

When it is a leap year she does celebrate a little more than other years. She usually receives one larger present and will have a big family party. She also makes sure to celebrate with her friends on the big day. This year was her 16th birthday, so another small present was that she was able to get her drivers license. Although her real sweet 16 won’t be until she turns 64! Even though her real birthday doesn’t come around every year she always makes sure to have a fun day celebrating. 

“It’s just like your birthday, it just gets a little more special every four years,” said Kielczewski.