nbc's peter alexander has the story of a unique program at a university in ohio where one remarkableking a difference. >> reporter: it's often called the best time of a person's life, but for university of cincinnati freshman tracy stiegel, college didn't start out that way. >> it was scary. i'm thinking i'm 1 out of 38,000. >> reporter: at his offcampus dorm, tracy is notlone. this is a one of a kind learn being experiment. a home for 21 low-income freshmen, all the first in their family to attend college. >> hello, hello, hello. >> reporter: program coordinator ju mausy is part advisor, part mom. >> i use the word sherpa. i've been to the mountain before i can recognize the signs. >> reporter: that mountain is elusive college degree. statistics are staggering. low-income first generation students are four times more likely than their classmates to drop out before the end of their freshmen year. overall, 89% of them won't graduate. >> they have had to grow up sometimes faster than their years. they have had financial struggles. they finished well in high school and maybe that's wher

i'm peter alexander. students writing mean things on facebook could be in big trouble at one high school. a school superintendent in evanston, illinois, is telling students they'll be suspended if caught and he's asking one to take the site down altogether. >> we found students past and present who say the facebook page evanston rats has soiled their names. >> it's pretty explicit. >> i'm really upset by the situation. not really that they came at me, but that this stuff still exists today. >> reporter: the site allegedly created by other students, has pages of slanderous and filthy comments about other teenage students. at tonight's girl's soccer game, parents and students were shocked. some students even being threatened. >> the problem is that the texting or cyber bullying, they don't actually get to see the person's face. >> from what i understand, it's basically just kind of people roasting on certain students and their personal life. >> that report from our nbc chicago station, wmaq. the superintend

let's get the headlines from peter alexander at the news desk. >> happy easter to you.dly begin with another death in baghdad. suicide attackers detonated one near the iranian embasset and others went off in an area that houses other foreign embassies. nearly 200 people were waunded. several recent attacks have raised fears that insurgents are trying to undermine the iraqi government following last month's elections. >>> an oil tanker is leaking oil on australia's famed great barrier fish. a chinese ship ran aground saturday night and is now in danger of breaking apart. authorities fear it will damage the world's largest coral reef in a protected area where shipping is restricted. >>> police in panama city florida are investigating the death of a high school football star during spring break. 17-year-old matt james of cincinnati fell from a hotel balcony. the 6'6" offensive lineman was set to play for notre dame this fall. his high school teammates gathered for a prayer service saturday. >>> police in colorado will search today for a missing 12-year-old girl on saturday

. >>> let's head over to the news desk where peter alexander has the headlines. >>> we begin in iraq where gunmen have killed at least 25 people including fife women in raids overnight. this happened in a sunni village south of baghdad. officials say many of the victims were so-called sons of iraq, that's former insurgents that later teamed up with al qaeda members. >>> letters from -- resign within three days or face removal from office. the letters come from the group the guardians of the free republic. they do not threaten violence and so far none arrests have been made. >>> rhode island has been declared a federal disaster area after the worst flooding in 200 years. in the midwest, severe thunderstorms ripped through kansas and oklahoma, flattening homes and trees. and in the pacific northwest snow is still blanketing parts of oregon and washington state. >>> authorities in ft. worth, texas are searching for two arsonists caught on surveillance tape starting fire to a building. the -- setting the fire and then simply taking off. three firefighters were hurt. look at that video. t

i'm peter alexander reporting from new york for lester holt and everyone here at nbc news.holt and everyone here at nbc news. have a good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

nbc's peter alexander is in augusta with more. peter, good morning to you. >> reporter: meredith, good morning to you from augusta. for tiger woods, this day couldn't come soon enough as he hopes to finally change the topic from the mistresses to the masters. even before his first drive here this morning, tiger woods is now out with a new ad from his most loyal sponsor, nike. an introspective look. take a look for yourself. >> tiger, i am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. >> reporter: on the eve of his return to the game, tiger woods made his return to the airways. staring directly into the camera for this new nike commercial. his late father's voice in the background seemingly lecturing his son about responsibility. >> i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything. >> reporter: spotted signing autographs at augusta national wednesday, tiger also received an unprecedented dressing-down by the chairman of the exclusive club where women still aren't

. >> nbc's peter alexander live at the masters. thanks so much. now for more on how tiger hit them at the press conference let's bring in jimmy roberts who covers golf for nbc sports and also with us from augusta is alan bastable the senior editor f "golf" magazine. jimmy, how did he do? >> i think he did with el. i think peter made a good point. no one asked the question about the allegations in the "vanity fair" article. that's troubling to me but i think some of the things he did tackle, he met the questions about his use or nonuse of performance enhancing drugs head on in what probably was the most oft repeated question. i think he did well. what you didn't see there was something you have seen in the past, which is this kind of underlying, this seething contempt that he has when he has to face questions that he doesn't like. and i think that going forward that will be the true measure of how he's doing. how does he handle the questions that he doesn't really want to hear? >> the masters. it gives a different environment than the other tournam

alexander, press secretary to the vice president. andrea seabrook, national public radio. senator orrin hatch, republican, utah. our rtca awards coordinator, jill jackson of cbs news. your next chair of the radio tv association, peter slen of c- span. from my far right, you're left, mike mondrian, jim manley, senior communications director to senator harry reid. fox news channel. senator lamar alexander, republican of tennessee. chairman of this dinner in 2012 and everybody's favorite cameraman, jay mcmichael. chair of the house rules committee, straight from health care debate centro, louise slaughter from new york. dave mcconnell. rtca executive committee outgoing treasurer, linda kenyan of crn news. and of course you know mr. vice president. you can clap. [applause] our association is fortunate to have the house and senate radio tv gallery staff. they help us do our job every day. i want to expand a special thank you. these folks are the heart and soul of making the daily coverage of capitol hill possible. on the house side, olga ramirez, gayle davis, helen debarge, and anthony keller. on the senate side, a crhichris boyd and arlen salazar. >> ladies and gentlemen, awards coordinator jill jackson of cbs news [ap

i'm peter alexander. there's a lot going on. hope you can be a part of this. day two of what's becoming a growing sense of worldwide chaos. an erupting volcano in iceland, you've heard about it, grounding planes on six continents and closing american military bases in europe and will likely last into the coming days. ash, we have shown you, is blowing in from the eruption in iceland. we won't try to pronounce the name of the volcano. you see it there. the clouds of volcanic debris that contains shards of rock, ash and glass can clog and cause jet engines to shut down automatically. midflight, just like that. thousands stranded in london's heathrow where we find nbc news's tom aspell. did people even show up at the airport today? what are they doing with the tens ever thousands of folks who have nowhere to go? >> reporter: you're right, peter. this is one of europe's busiest airportses in normal times. 80,000 flights a day, 121,000 passengers. today is eerily quiet. moat british citizens on their way to the airport when the first announcement was made a couple