Leap year comes every four years and not many people have a leap year birthday. But the people who do should be celebrated just like everyone else on their birthdays!

Nathaniel Tovar-Crespo, a sophomore at Taft High School, has a leap year birthday. Since leap year comes every four years, he prefers to celebrate his birthday on February 28th. 

Tovar-Crespo said, “Legally, it says my birthday in a non-leap year would be March 1, but I do not agree with that. I can see how they came up with it because it would make more sense to have it the day after than the day before.” 

Tovar-Crespo feels he should celebrate his birthday in February instead of March because it makes more sense to celebrate the birthday in the same month instead of the month after. 

Tovar-Crespo said, “It feels more right because it’s my actual birth month; having it in March wouldn’t feel right. So I personally have always felt and celebrated it in February, when it is a non-leap year.”

Tovar-Crespo likes his birthday on Feb. 29, but sometimes just wants to be born on a normal day, so he can have a normal birthday. 

Tovar-Crespo said, “I would just want to be born on a normal day, and that’s because I would have a feeling of the actual age that I am turning because I can say I am 16 or 17 or whatever age but I know that when my birthday comes around, I’m more of that number, like 3 or 4, and it just feels a little weird.”

If Tovar-Crespo celebrated his birthday every leap year then he would be turning 4 years old this year. Tovar-Crespo had a teacher that used to say birthdays don’t justify your age. It’s how many winters you lived that justifies your age. 

Tovar-Crespo said, “It just feels more right. I’ve lived on earth for almost 16 winters, not 4 years, according to my birthday.”