Education

The Doris Henderson Newcomers School in Greensboro is a melting pot. Since August of 2007 the school has welcomed about 3,000 students from around the world who are transitioning to a life in America while learning English. Seventy-five percent of the students are refugees and the challenges facing them are numerous.

Colleges and universities across the state are looking at raising tuition. But one university in Raleigh is going against the grain. William Peace University has announced in a letter to students it's lowering tuition around 7.73 percent. That brings tuition to $23,700 for the 2012-2013 school year. Debra Townsley is the university president.

A student at NC State is hoping to solve a pervasive problem in developing countries.

Tate Rogers needed an idea for his senior engineering seminar class last spring. The assignment – use the Gates Foundation Grand Challenge guidelines to develop an idea to help dispose of human waste in developing countries.

His idea was simple: encase a hand-held auger in a pipe, so that one person could empty a latrine, instead of needing a huge, costly truck. Rogers won a $100,000 Gates grant and is now developing a prototype.

A high-profile elementary school in southeast Raleigh is going through some growing pains.

A few days before school began in August, Principal Corey Moore welcomed a horde of new families to Walnut Creek Elementary School.

Three new high schools that feature an innovative curriculum are up and running in North Carolina this school year. The schools focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

The new STEM schools are the City of Medicine Academy in Durham, Craven Early College East, and Wake NC State University Early College in Raleigh.

Tony Habit is the President of the North Carolina New Schools Project.