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Valencia lives, for the time being, in a mobile home park.
巴伦西亚现在生活在公园里的一个活动房屋里。
He greeted me when I arrived and poured me a cup of coffee.
我到了之后，他问候了我，并给我倒了一杯咖啡。
He told me that his dad had worked at a brick-manufacturing plant and in auto assembly.
他告诉我，他的父亲曾在一家砖厂和汽车装配厂工作。
His mother worked at home. Most of his seven brothers and sisters didn't go to college, and none finished.
他母亲则在家工作。他七个兄弟姐妹的大多数都没有上大学，而且没有一个完成学业。
Valencia is determined to be the first, despite his late start.
巴伦西亚决定成为第一个人，尽管他开始很晚。
He said he was an average student who struggled with math and went to community college a year after graduating from high school but decided quickly it was not for him.
他说自己是一个普通的学生，觉得数学很难学。他高中毕业后一年就去了社区大学，但是很快就发现不适合他。
He got into construction and then the insurance industry, but he'd always liked to write and do crossword puzzles. "And I loved to read. A lot," he said.
他进到了建筑行业，然后是保险行业，但是他总是喜欢写作和玩纵横字谜游戏。他说：“我也很爱阅读。”
He also loved watching Jeopardy! with his mother, and he joked that if one of them ever won the lottery or if he became a Jeopardy! contestant, he'd use the winnings for college.
他也爱看《危险边缘》节目！和他的母亲一起看。他开玩笑说，如果他们两人中谁中了彩票或者成为《危险边缘》节目的竞争者，他会用奖金去上大学。
It was around 2007, Valencia said, that he got tired of telling himself he was going to go back. He told his mother it was finally for real.
巴伦西亚说，大约是在2007年，他厌倦了告诉自己要回到学校。他告诉母亲，这一切终于成真了。
"When I went back to school, she said, ‘I hope you make it, Jerry.' And I told her, ‘I'm going to make it, Mom. I'm going to make it.'"
“当我回到学校时，她说，我希望你能完成学业，杰里。我告诉她，我会完成的，妈妈。我会完成的。”
The plan was to capitalize on his construction experience and study civil engineering. But he discovered other interests.
学业计划就是利用他的建筑经验，学习土木工程。但他发现了其他的兴趣。
"He was not the youngest student," says Grant Tovmasian, coach of the forensics debate team Valencia joined.
“他不是年龄最小的学生，”巴伦西亚加入的辩论队的教练格兰特·托瓦马西安说。
"But he was the most motivated and the most dedicated." Tovmasian says Valencia was a great team player in forensics,
“但他是最积极、最专注的学生。”托瓦马西安说巴伦西亚在辩论上是一个伟大的团队成员，
encouraging fellow students and inspiring them with his desire to educate himself and live a more fulfilling life.
他用对接受教育和过更充实生活的渴望，鼓励同学们，激励同学们。
Valencia's sister Sindi Majors says her brother was always bright, but he went through a couple of rough patches in his life.
巴伦西亚的姐姐辛迪·梅杰斯说，她的弟弟一直都很聪明，但他在一生中经历了很多坎坷。
"He's pretty much been homeless," says Majors, a retired electrician.
退休电工梅杰斯说，“他几乎无家可归。”
She bought him a motor home to help him out, and that's what he lived in from 2009 to 2018.
她给她买了一个房车来帮助他，他从2009年到2018年都住在里面。
There is something splendidly irrational about Valencia's determination to get a four-year degree and then a master's.
巴伦西亚决定取得一个四年制的学位，然后再取得硕士学位，这其中有一些非常不合理的地方。
At his current pace, he'll be 90 when he finally hangs all that paper on the wall.
按照现在的速度，他能把学位证书挂在墙上的时候就90岁了。
But that doesn't seem especially relevant. He's found all the youthful energy and academic opportunity stimulating.
但这似乎不是什么重点。他已发现这些青春活力和学习机会都令自己振奋。
Valencia's grade in my class this semester will not show up on his transcripts.
巴伦西亚这学期在我们班的成绩不会出现在他的成绩单上。
But I'm giving him an A— and in the most important ways, it counts.
但我给了他一个A-，而且是在最重要的方面，这很重要。
