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Valencia lives, for the time being, in a mobile home park.
巴倫西亞現在生活在公園里的一個活動房屋里。
He greeted me when I arrived and poured me a cup of coffee.
我到了之后，他問候了我，并給我倒了一杯咖啡。
He told me that his dad had worked at a brick-manufacturing plant and in auto assembly.
他告訴我，他的父親曾在一家磚廠和汽車裝配廠工作。
His mother worked at home. Most of his seven brothers and sisters didn't go to college, and none finished.
他母親則在家工作。他七個兄弟姐妹的大多數都沒有上大學，而且沒有一個完成學業。
Valencia is determined to be the first, despite his late start.
巴倫西亞決定成為第一個人，盡管他開始很晚。
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.
他說自己是一個普通的學生，覺得數學很難學。他高中畢業后一年就去了社區大學，但是很快就發現不適合他。
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.
他進到了建筑行業，然后是保險行業，但是他總是喜歡寫作和玩縱橫字謎游戲。他說：“我也很愛閱讀。”
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.
他也愛看《危險邊緣》節目！和他的母親一起看。他開玩笑說，如果他們兩人中誰中了彩票或者成為《危險邊緣》節目的競爭者，他會用獎金去上大學。
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.
巴倫西亞說，大約是在2007年，他厭倦了告訴自己要回到學校。他告訴母親，這一切終于成真了。
"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.'"
“當我回到學校時，她說，我希望你能完成學業，杰里。我告訴她，我會完成的，媽媽。我會完成的。”
The plan was to capitalize on his construction experience and study civil engineering. But he discovered other interests.
學業計劃就是利用他的建筑經驗，學習土木工程。但他發現了其他的興趣。
"He was not the youngest student," says Grant Tovmasian, coach of the forensics debate team Valencia joined.
“他不是年齡最小的學生，”巴倫西亞加入的辯論隊的教練格蘭特·托瓦馬西安說。
"But he was the most motivated and the most dedicated." Tovmasian says Valencia was a great team player in forensics,
“但他是最積極、最專注的學生。”托瓦馬西安說巴倫西亞在辯論上是一個偉大的團隊成員，
encouraging fellow students and inspiring them with his desire to educate himself and live a more fulfilling life.
他用對接受教育和過更充實生活的渴望，鼓勵同學們，激勵同學們。
Valencia's sister Sindi Majors says her brother was always bright, but he went through a couple of rough patches in his life.
巴倫西亞的姐姐辛迪·梅杰斯說，她的弟弟一直都很聰明，但他在一生中經歷了很多坎坷。
"He's pretty much been homeless," says Majors, a retired electrician.
退休電工梅杰斯說，“他幾乎無家可歸。”
She bought him a motor home to help him out, and that's what he lived in from 2009 to 2018.
她給她買了一個房車來幫助他，他從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.
巴倫西亞決定取得一個四年制的學位，然后再取得碩士學位，這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.
按照現在的速度，他能把學位證書掛在墻上的時候就90歲了。
But that doesn't seem especially relevant. He's found all the youthful energy and academic opportunity stimulating.
但這似乎不是什么重點。他已發現這些青春活力和學習機會都令自己振奮。
Valencia's grade in my class this semester will not show up on his transcripts.
巴倫西亞這學期在我們班的成績不會出現在他的成績單上。
But I'm giving him an A— and in the most important ways, it counts.
但我給了他一個A-，而且是在最重要的方面，這很重要。
