The image of the first day of school at the new Pittsburgh Westinghouse 6-12 in Homewood still sticks in one teacher's mind. "I think the first day in August was so beautiful. They came in their uniforms. You could see the expectations that things were going to be different. We're really going to focus on our learning," she said. (Today)

"I think the first day in August was so beautiful. They came in their uniforms. You could see the expectations that things were going to be different. We're really going to focus on our learning," she said. But when the school opened ... (Today)

For about two hours a day, twice a day, five days a week, Cathy Gamble is the queen -- in neon green -- of 44th and Butler streets. The longtime crossing guard greets pedestrians by name and blows kisses from her stark white gloves to the drivers who stop in her wake at this bustling intersection, where she estimates she crosses 300 schoolchildren and countless more adults each day. (Today)

SEATTLE -- This is the University of Washington's new math: 18 percent of its freshmen come from abroad, most from China. Each pays tuition of $28,059, about three times as much as students from Washington State. And that, according to the dean of admissions, is how low-income Washingtonians -- more than a quarter of the class -- get a free ride. (Today)

Green River Community College, 45 minutes south of Seattle, has no special overseas cachet, no global name recognition -- but it has enrolled 1,400 international students this year, most of them recruited by overseas agents who get 15 percent of the $9,732 first-year tuition. (Today)