February 29th: a rare opportunity

Devin Owen
MSMU Class of 2026

(2/2024) Every four years, our calendars have gifted us with the rare occurrence of an extra day in February—a bonus 24 hours that disrupts our annual rhythm. But what to do in a day that only occurs every four years? Lucky for me, Mount St. Mary’s will be on spring break the week of the leap year for 2024, so from February 24th until March 1st, I will be sitting on a sunny beach in Florida from sunrise to sunset; with that being said, February 29th will be a day spent soaking in the warm Florida sun and reminiscing on my favorite feelings of home—which typically involve the beach and summer break.

My favorite memories always involve the warm summer sun, time spent with family, and days at the beach in Cape Henlopen State Park; these are memories of home, the ones I hold on to tightly as the cold, winter air hits at the Mount and my seasonal depression kicks in. Instead of going back to the cold air of my hometown this time of year, I’m lucky enough to have planned a vacation with my boyfriend for spring break. And so, to end the month, I’ll be spending a week curing this seasonal depression and enjoying the beauty of warm, sunny days. The 29th will actually be our last ‘official’ day of vacation; our last day to enjoy the warm sunny days offered to us by the beautiful state of Florida, as we will be headed to the Fort Lauderdale airport around 6 a.m. of March 1st to catch our flight back home. It’s all timed so perfectly: the extra day of February is giving us our last day of solitude and relaxation before we head back to reality.

In all honesty, February 29th is a day I forgot about. Technically, I forgot about leap years completely up until we talked about what to write about this month. It really is an interesting phenomenon though. I mean, why do we even have leap years? What is the science behind it? How exactly does it work? Well, I can fill you in with my limited knowledge from high school…and I apologize if I don’t do the science justice with my explanation! Leap years occur due to the need to align our calendar with the Earth's orbit around the sun, and because the earth takes about 365 days (give or take a couple decimals) to orbit the sun once, if we allow our calendars to proceed without any adjustments, they will gradually fall out of sync with the astronomical year based on this orbit. From the beginning of time, adjustments have been made to try and fix this idea.

For example, I remember growing up being taught about how early civilizations, such as the Egyptians and Romans, were aware of the discrepancy between the solar year and the calendar year and in cases such as the Romans, a calendar was made with a 355-day year with an occasional intercalary (which means the insertion of extra time) month added to synchronize it with the solar year. The concept for the calendars we follow now, though, is based off of Pope Gregory XIII’s introduction of the ‘Gregorian Calendar’ in 1582, which refined the leap year rule, therefore allowing the calendar year length to be closer to the solar year, and thus reducing the discrepancy brought forth by other calendars of the past. As I said earlier, the current leap year system also follows the rules established by the Gregorian calendar: a year is considered a leap year if it is divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100. However, years divisible by 400 are still considered leap years; essentially, this concept is based off of multiples of fours—at least that’s the easiest way I have found to remember it! This system has provided a close approximation of the solar year and helps to keep our calendar in sync with the Earth's orbit around the sun! This, my friends, is science at its finest!

One of the downsides to this day though, is everyone who has a birthday on February 29th…I mean, they don’t get to celebrate their actual birthday on the day except for every four years when it finally comes around again! Funnily enough, my best friend is going to be having a baby in late February. She is actually due on my other nephew’s birthday, the 24th! Small world, isn’t it! There is a chance though that she could have this sweet baby boy on the 29th instead, and poor Easton won’t get to celebrate his birthday on the actual day aside from those years by a multiple of four. While on the topic of birthdays, my dad made a point as I was writing today about how every four years, he has to wait an extra day to celebrate his own birthday. My family really enjoy making a big deal out of birthdays and my dad is the biggest celebration enthusiast of us all. Last year for his 50th, he took a trip to Cancun! I bet he wished it was a leap year for that last year, he would’ve gotten an extra day to spend on vacation.

It really is so interesting to look at the science behind our daily lives; I mean, we are told that the world works a certain way, and it influences our lives for eternity, or until someone new makes a point that changes our way of viewing the world. I was never one who quite cared for science, but I can’t help it but be completely intrigued by the phenomenon here! Frankly, I am excited to see what the year of 2024—the year of the leap year—has in store for me. So far, it is looking pretty good! How I cannot wait to be spending February 29th on the beach, fully embracing the resolutions I made this year to take time to myself and do good by me! I hope everyone else reading this gets to enjoy this extra day as well: by all means make a cake, have a special dinner, do something that makes you feel good, and use this day as an excuse to celebrate life!