Leap year is this year, causing 2012 to have an extra day. This happens so the seasons and the months will stay in alignment.
“The main reason we have leap years is because the year is not exactly 365 days long, it varies it is not the same length as it was 2000 years ago. The year is 365.242 days long and the 0.242 is about a quarter of a day, so the four quarters build up into a whole day,” Physics teacher Steve Varner said.
Feb. this year has 29 days instead of 28, meaning 2012 will have 366 days instead of 365. If Feb. continued to have only 28 days every year, it would cause the calendar to lose six hours and after 100 years the calendar would be off by 24 days. That is, if the world doesn’t end in Dec. of this year.
Many people try to take advantage of this leap day. An extra day in the month means that there is more time to accomplish things that typically get put off. There are even traditions that involve making the most of an extra day and living that day to the fullest.
Such as in the movie “Leap Year” a woman partakes in an Irish tradition and flies to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend. In Ireland a woman can propose,  but if the man says no, he must buy her 12 gloves.
“I don’t think it would be fair to be born on a leap year and not get to celebrate your birthday on the day of your birth. You would only really get to celebrate it every four years,” junior Andrew Acosta said.
In some countries, like New Zealand and England, if someone is born on leap day, they legally change the date of their birthday. Their birth certiciate and any other legal documents are changed.
“In China if you are born on leap day, they just say you are born on the 28,” Varner said.
Years that are divisible by four are leap years, yet years that are divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless it is also divisible by 400.
The Gregorian calendar, which is the modern calendar, was adapted from the Julian calendar used during the Roman Era.  Russia held off from adopting  it for a few years, and American adopted it during Colonial times.