Feb. 29 occurs only every four years and is known as Leap Day or intercalary day. It takes the Earth a little less than 365 ¼ days to orbit the sun, which is why it takes four years before leap day comes around again.

Some say that people born on leap year are lucky because the chances of being born on leap year are one in 1,461. Leap year babies are also called “leaplings” or “leapers”. The worldwide population of leap year babies is about 5 million.

Sophomore Maison Willis was born on Feb. 29 and this Saturday Willis will technically celebrate only her 4th birthday.

When it is not a leap year, Willis said, “I celebrate my birthday on Feb. 28 and March 1, I usually do a birthday dinner with my family and a birthday party with my friends.”

Also, throughout the years of elementary school, when it was someone’s birthday they always announced during morning announcements. For the people with leap year birthdays, they only got announced once in their whole elementary school experience.

“In elementary school every day they would announce whose birthday it was, and mine never got announced. Except for once when I had my birthday one year and that was it,” Willis said.

The average life expectancy in the United States is about 80 years. Someone with a birthday on Feb. 29, assuming they live until they are 80, would only actually have 20 actual birthdays.

In addition, Production Secretary Denice Flannigan’s son was also born on a Leap Day, Feb. 29, 2000.

“My husband and I thought about it and realized that he was born on a millennium year which is even rarer than just a leap year birthday,” she said.