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When writers ask for time off to focus on school work, I usually oblige and sometimes assure them, “You filled out an application to UCLA, not the Daily Bruin.”

That’s coming from someone who used his UC personal statement to explain how he wanted to work at The Bruin.

I often think about what I’d have without The Bruin, and I come up with one answer – a lot of free time. If I focused solely on class, it would never be enough. And it shouldn’t be. If college was just about taking classes and reading books, then UCLA would only need to consist of a few lecture halls and a library.

For four years, I believed this mind-set and my experiences were unique among the student body. Since starting as a reporter, I’ve written hundreds of stories and seen their effects on the community.

I held back tears while talking to relatives of alumni killed because they were in a hijacked airplane that crashed into the Pentagon.

I helped to alienate much of the country when I reported on students protesting Laura Bush’s invitation to speak at commencement, prompting hundreds of letters and e-mails, causing some parents to vow never to send their children to UCLA, eliciting an invitation to appear on the “O’Reilly Factor,” and costing the university a few million dollars in donations.

There have been breaking stories, from campus protests and shootings to wildfires and the abuse of donated cadavers. There have been four years worth of student government meetings and elections. I’ve told stories of the highest-profile people at UCLA and never shied from telling stories of those who are generally overlooked.

So while these particular experiences are unique, the concept of what I’ve done is not: I simply found my niche.

It is something thousands of Bruins seek while attending a large public university. Partly to avoid getting lost, I joined The Bruin. Other students have committed themselves to community service, student government, volunteer work, student groups and various other pursuits. These efforts are just as commendable as what I’ve done, if not more. I just happened to join the newspaper.

For two years, I got a byline in the paper two to three times a week. Later, my name was relegated to the staff box somewhere inside the The Bruin. Even in this form, I received more recognition than many of the students engulfed in the same goal as me – to do my part to make this university a better place when I leave than when I arrived.

I am astonished by students who mentor high schoolers from low-income communities, even when the university cannot provide these college students with adequate funds. I feel for students who spend a year preparing for a grand-scale show only to have it rained on, as Spring Singers experienced in 2003.

My own service to the university was hard at times. I’ve lost friends, lost girlfriends, lost sleep, lost weekends and holidays, lowered my GPA, failed a class, had to cram 10 weeks into three days, and had days when stories I produced drew the wrath of the community. Sometimes I slept in the office and showered in the Wooden Center. And there were days when I couldn’t take it anymore.

But as those outreach counselors and Spring Singers would probably say, I would never take it back. I’ve made new friends. I’ve learned to deal with sleep deprivation and lack of exposure to the outdoors. I’ve found a way to see my apartment once in a while. I now have a girlfriend who understands why I spend all waking hours in a windowless office trying to put out an elite college newspaper – because someone has to do it, should want to do it, and should treat the news as if no one else is going to report it. And that someone should also believe he can do it better than anyone else.

But I’m getting specific. As I reflect on the experiences I had as a college journalist, I recognize that I’m also just another student, among scores of others who found that staying inside a classroom just wasn’t enough.

Salonga was the 2003-2004 news editor. He graduates in four years despite changing majors three times; he barely met the minimum unit requirement.