By: Joshua Haight

You may not be aware, but this year is Leap Year, meaning that we all have another day on our calendars: February 29. According to www.infoplease.com, leap year occurs because the earth spins a quarter rotation more than it normally would, which is the purpose of the extra day. You may know someone born on the same year as you, but they are only four years old. How can that be true, you may think? Being born on Leap Year allows for your birthday to take place every four years, which is why a sixteen year old may have a friend that is technically only four years old.

According to www.History.com, the Egyptians were the first ones to actually identify Leap Year; although the practice was not formally used until 46 B.C. The Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, was the first person to actually enforce the Leap Year calendar system. The Roman calendar included a system of 365 days a year, and an extra day (Leap Year) that occurred every four years. Eventually, the calendar was fixed by Pope Gregory XIII because, by the 14^th century, the calendar had drifted off course by ten days. The reason behind this change was because every 128 years, the calendar would be off by a day. The new revised Gregorian calendar (which is the calendar that we use today) was edited so that Leap year would occur every four years, except those years that are divisible by 100, and not 400. For example, the year 1900 was not officially a leap year because it was evenly divisible by 100, but not 400. The Gregorian calendar is the most accurate calendar that we have had so far. Although the extra day confuses some people, the 29^th of February is a necessary attribute to the calendar that helps us not get off course with the amount of days.      The next leap year will occur in the year 2020- the year that Kanye West claims that he will run for president.