BANGOR – Work and education go hand in hand. At least that is the formula that has brought Danielle Rosenblum to the New England School of Communications in Bangor.

Since the age of 17, Rosenblum has supported herself and pursued her quest for an education by working at an MCI call center in Iowa City, Iowa; becoming a licensed agent to sell life and health insurance in California; working for another call center in Newport Beach, Calif., specializing in helping people with home mortgages; and handling order processing and commission statements for a security firm.

She has done all this while pursuing a high school and college education. In her senior year at City High School in Iowa City she moved out of her home and moved in with other workers from the MCI call center.

“Actually, I lived in a living room but the pay was pretty good for someone who didn’t even have a diploma,” she said.

After graduation her quest for further education took her to California where she lived with her father for several months, became a licensed insurance agent, left that job to work at a call center in Newport Beach, moved in with roommates in Huntington Beach and entered Orange Coast Community College. Of her insurance-selling career she said, “not many people want to buy life insurance from an 18-year-old.”

After one semester at Orange Coast, she enrolled in an accelerated program at Coastline Community College, went to work for JMG Security Systems and financed a good part of her college costs for one year. Completion of 40 units in the accelerated program enabled her to transfer to NESCom as a second semester sophomore.

She came to NESCom for a couple of reasons. “I was trying to find an advertising program in Maine that was good enough for me to travel across the country so I went online and found it. I didn’t find any school like NESCom. To me, it’s unique with its smaller classes and technical expertise,” she said.

She acknowledged with a grin that part of the reason for seeking educational opportunities in Maine was the fact that her boyfriend was entering Maine Maritime Academy, and NESCom on the Husson College campus isn’t far from Castine.

Rosenblum believes she can complete this year without having to work thanks to the money she saved from her previous jobs, several scholarships and an educational loan. Majoring in advertising, marketing and public relations, she is on course to earn a bachelor’s degree in December 2007.

Meanwhile, she is still looking at possible job opportunities. It’s part of who she is.