Weinberg sophomore Morgan Van Ness can’t wait to turn 5.
“It takes up a whole hand,” he said eagerly. “So every time I give someone a high-five, I’m really just telling them how old I am.”
The 4-year-old has big plans to party both Saturday and Sunday — his real birthday.
“It’s my only birthday in college,” he said. “That’s reason enough to celebrate right there.”
Van Ness was born Feb. 29, 1984 — a leap year day — which means his official birthday only comes around once every four years.
Leap days generally occur every four years to keep the calendar in sync with the seasons. There are, of course, unusual exceptions — years divisible by 100 aren’t leap years unless they also are divisible by 400.
A birthday on the uncommon day leaves leap-day babies like Van Ness in a predicament — when to celebrate on non-leap years?
“I kinda take a week before and a week after and find out when I’m busy,” Van Ness said. “Whenever I’m not busy, that’s my birthday. You have a lot of freedom. Since it doesn’t exist, I get to create it.”
McCormick sophomore Jojo Yang, another leap day baby, celebrates both Feb. 28 and March 1 — what the online magazine “Leapzine” calls an act of “leapicide.”
“I choose one day to party, but I tell everyone it’s my birthday on both days,” she said.
For Ilya Lipkind, the perks of being special have directly translated into saved cash.
On a trip to Six Flags Great America as a 13-year-old, Lipkind informed the ticket booth employee that he was 3 years old. She was so amazed by his rare birthday, he said, she let him in the park for free. After all, children ages 3 and under receive free admission.
So were his friends jealous?
“Yeah, absolutely,” said Lipkind, a Weinberg sophomore. “I saved 30 bucks.”
Lipkind said he thinks his leap day birthday has partially shaped his personality’s “very unusual and spontaneous qualities.”
Van Ness also said that having a birthday on that “weird, crazy day” says a lot about his character.
“I’m a crazy guy,” he said. “I’m a weird guy. My hair is big. I don’t make sense in a lot of ways, so having the weird birthday just explains it.”
