describing studying at night in the homeless shelter. >> opened my phone in the dark and use your cell phone light. just do what i had to do. >> reporter: what she did was achieve a 4.66 gpa and a 1900 on her sats, making her not only valedictorian but star student at her school in clayton county. chelesa's sister is graduating as salutatorian from george washington carver high school in atlanta. >> i would take them to the library. everything around them was a learning experience. do what you have to do now so you can get what you want. >> apparently 11 million kids are homeless in america. that's a 13% increase from 2010 to 2011, and they believe it's underreported because some families don't want to admit they're homeless. >> the mother made them read all the time, took them to the library. every day learning experiences were pointed out to them. >> mom made a difference. >> she sure did. congratulations to her. i'm sure she's on her way to big things.