Valentin Jimenez, 18 and fresh out of high school, has never lived away from home. He has rarely set foot outside East Los Angeles.
Now, with a few sweaters in his suitcase and $500 in his pocket, he has left his Mexican-born parents to attend Grinnell College in Iowa.
He’s on his own for the first time. But he isn’t alone.
Jimenez is settling in the heartland with his “posse” ââ?¬â? nine other Los Angeles-area high school graduates who are venturing as a group to the leafy, elite liberal arts college nearly 2,000 miles from home. (Login required.)