woodard's wake up call was a bullet that almost paralyzed him when he was 19. after getting out of jail he found his way to marshall and the omega boys club meetings. >> i seen a classroom full of kids he had their undivided attention. >> reporter: one year later he's in college in costa contra county. >> i want to be a radiologist. >> 25 years keeping them alive and free there's no greater gift. >> reporter: the boys club have helped 10,000 young people. this spring 176 have gotten college degrees 32 of them postgraduate degrees and 24 cities have adopted the omega program across the u. s. and in south africa thailand and canada. but as dr. marshall says his success can't be measured in numbers an milestones. for him it's the personal impact he made on these young people. >> linda, great story, thanks. >>> the academy awards have been handed out. the after party is well underway. >>> it's down to the wire in michigan where mitt romney is struggling to stay ahead. what rick santorum believes he has that will put him over the top. >>> another storm is winding up

the voters come from a not very diverse industry says former best supporting actress nominee alfrey woodard. >> this business is one of the last bastions of not reflecting what this country really is in an everyday way. >> reporter: so woodard is trying to get the business to become more representative. >> we're reaching out to people that we think, you know what? do you know about the academy? i think you should apply. >> reporter: and the academy is offering more and more grants and internships. >> in today's time who doesn't want to see more diversity? >> reporter: as the big show draws near, for all who have seen this year's nominated movies and stars, or not, the arguments have probably already begun. mike taibbi, nbc news, hollywood. >>> that's our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good evening, thanks for being with us on this thursday. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. what di

like woodard, he grew up with a drug addictive addict mother and father in prison. >> to be honest, i was out there doing so much. it was like i didn't care. i really didn't care. i was going to go out with a bang. that's how i felt. i felt i was going to be killed or i was going to kill. >> reporter: years before andre became an assistant principal at a middle school, he was a violent gang member. he remembers the first words he heard him say. >> if i knew what he knew, it would keep me from doing what i'm doing. that must be some good stuff. aikens has come full circle. today he teaches at boy's club. his wake up call was the bullet that almost paralyzed him. he had their undivided attention. >> now he's in college. >> i want to be a radiologist. >> 25 years of keeping them after live and free, there's no greater gift. >> the boy's club has helped 10,000 young people. this spring, 176 will be getting college degrees, 32 postgraduate degrees. 24 cities have adopted the program across the states. as dr. marshal says, his success cannot be measured in numbers and milestones for him. it

. >> reporter: in this poor neighborhood, where reading scores are abysmally low, katelyn woodard praises her students for trying to find the right answer. >> it's by itself beautiful. good job, demetria. >> good job, demetria! >> reporter: katelyn, erin, and kristin are graduates of mtr-memphis teacher residency, a three-year-old program designed to give poor inner city students the same opportunities as students in wealthier areas. david montague is the director of the school. >> it's absolutely an injustice, because there's such a large academic achievement gap between students that are generally poor and minority relative to students who generally live in the suburbs and who are white. >> reporter: funded mostly by foundations and private contributions, this program takes college graduates and gives them housing, training, and tuition, even awards them a master's degree. in return, they agree to teach in an inner city school here for four years. the program is faith-based. >> what we're doing here we're doing within a christian context. we believe in god's word a revealed in scripture

. >> reporter: teresa and william woodard are heartbroken, surrounded by flowers as they mourn over the death of their daughter in their fairfax county apartment. >> i feel like she just left me and didn't say anything. >> reporter: take a look at this horrific scene from monday in prince georges county. she was driving in evening rush hour to pick up her 11-year-old son. a car crossed oncoming traffic, hit two cars and smashed into tawanda's car. she died on scene. >> it seems like it's not real. >> the four other drivers were okay. police took blood samples from the driver believed to have caused the accident to see if he was under the influence of blood or alcohol. they're waiting for test results. >> you just go day by day, minute by minute and pray a lot. >> reporter: family members remember tawanda as an avid reader who loved the bible, her church and her family. >> she loved life. >> reporter: police believe the driver in the ukon had been speeding. this case is still under investigation. in fairfax county, i'm shamari wood, news4. >>> at one point during rush hour all the statio

the fight happened friday in an alleyway near woodard elementary where the 11-year- old girl went to school. according to long beach police department officials, the fight with the classmate was preplanned while at least seven onlookers went to watch the after school battle. >> we believe the fight lasted about one minute, did not involve any weapons and we believe nobody was knocked to the ground. once the fight was over both girls left the location and went their separate way says '. >> reporter: the 11-year-old went to an after school program following the fight where she told supervisors she wasn't feeling well. her family came to get her and rushed her to the hospital in the early evening. she was pronounced dead shortly before 9 p.m. and the cause of death has yet to be determined. >> it's hard to understand how this could happen. if you're like me, you're also thinking about your own children, perhaps your daughter or your granddaughter, and then you get a sense of how precious life really is. for the family involved this is tragic beyond words and for the city it diminishes o

of not reflecting what this country really is. >> reporter: woodard is trying to get the business toepresentative. >> reaching out to people we think, you know what? do you know about the academy? do you know -- i think you should apply. >> reporter: the academy is offering more and more grants and internships. >> in today's time who doesn't want to see more diversity? >> reporter: in the meantime, for all who have seen this year's nominated movies and stars, or not, the arguments have probably already begun. for "today", mike taibbi, nbc news, hollywood. >> at the end of the day you like what you like whether it gets an award or not. we all know the movies we like and enjoy. >> i'm excited. there are some really good ones and i don't know who they'll pick. "the artist" is what they're all saying. it's one to see. not to hear right? >> it would be a talker but like this. >> i knew there was a pun somewhere. >>> all right. coming up country singer scotty mccreary's life after winning "american idol." first this is "today" on nbc. ♪ >>> still to come on "today" the dunwoody murder tria