The South High School student news site

The Southerner
The South High School student news site

The Southerner
The South High School student news site

The Southerner
Kinsley Wilcox-McBride

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Editor in chief

Kinsley Wilcox McBride is a senior at South now in her fourth year of newspaper. She served as Features editor last year and is excited to be editor in chief this year.

Kinsley joined The Southerner during her freshman year, excited to write about stories she’s passionate about. Now during distance learning she is excited to partake in writing stories about what is happening in the community and assisting new students who have just joined Newspaper.

Kinsley advises people to join Newspaper because it gives students connections to the South High staff and community, it improves confidence, and enhances writing skills. Aside from Newspaper, she enjoys reading, music, and spending time with her two dogs, and her two younger sisters.       

All content by Kinsley Wilcox-McBride
On Friday, January 8th, it was announced that Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) intends to offer a full time return to in-person school for PreK through grade 5 teachers and students, starting in February. Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Educational Support Professionals (MFT) has been strongly opposing the current plan, calling for more safety precautions to be put in place and for teachers to get vaccinated before returning to school. They are hosting many live meetings and posting on their social media to discuss their dissent towards the plan and uplift voices of MPS staff and guardians.

MPS reopening plan faces parent backlash and MFT opposition

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Editor in Chief
February 7, 2021
During the summer of 2020 and the start of Lake Street Project, the primary focus was workshops on Lake Street. Students walked around the area taking photos and having moments of discussion about how protesting and covid had impacted the community. Photo Courtesy of Lake Street Project.

Lake Street Project responses to social injustice and the pandemic

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Editor in Chief
December 22, 2020
George Floyd was a 46 year old African American man who lived in St. Louis Park, MN. Monday, May 25th, Floyd was murdered by 4 Minneapolis police.

South community reacts to the murder of George Floyd

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Editor-in-Chief
May 28, 2020
South's school-based clinic is still offering some of their services to students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. If you are in need of any services the Clinic can offer, contact Jen Vaupel by calling or texting 612-599-3195.

Through distance learning, the School-Based Clinic still encourages students to “use us if you need us!”

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Features Editor
May 24, 2020
Allow yourself to grieve and practice self care

Allow yourself to grieve and practice self care

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Features Editor
May 19, 2020
This is a set of statistics about the changes in applicants to Hampshire University after their first year of going test-blind. "The quantity of applications went down but the quality went up, likely because we made it harder to apply, asking for more essays; Our applicants collectively were more motivated, mature, disciplined and consistent in their high school years than past applicants,” an article published by the university said.

More colleges are taking an anti-test stance for admissions

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Features Editor
November 27, 2019
Sophomores Zigi Kaiser-Holt and Emmanuel Najera Vilchis add dirt to a garden box during the South Garden Party. Overall, Science teacher Susan Peterson stated that one of the most important ways to contribute to food justice is “that people are educated around the impact of eating healthy foods and where there food comes from,” so that we as a society can shift towards an initiative for accessible, organic food for everybody.

Food justice is a movement centered in equality and intersectionality

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
May 25, 2019
Pictured above is student Theodore Wilson having his school ID card scanned by Food Coordinator Terri Ventry. The lunch time policy change of going from typing in your PIN number to having your card scanned to purchase lunch aims to quicken lunch lines, and eliminate issues related to students using the wrong PIN numbers. “There are a lot of times when people forgot and mix up the numbers or whatever, so if I can just scan [an ID card] it takes two seconds,” explained Ventry.

New lunch policy aims to benefit both staff and students

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
May 3, 2019
Above is Mr. Aponte with his favorite mural that has gone up in his time as Principal at South. “I’m hoping that we can continue working on a lot of the things that he was responsible for in his time at South… I’m hoping that some of the visibility for particular groups of students and some of the work that we’ve been doing to try to improve things for them will continue to happen,” said history teacher Joshua Fisher. Aponte considers South the “pinnacle of his career” and is proud of improvements made, including South’s various murals.

Beloved Principal Ray Aponte will leave South on a high note

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
March 28, 2019
Early this month was the Minnesota State wrestling tournament, held at the Excel Energy Center. This year two South wrestlers, brothers Brian and Daniel Avre, both qualified. Wrestling is a family tradition for them, and they have both been wrestling since around five. “It’s been a lifelong run for both of them. They’ve both been wrestling their whole lives and they just really put in the time,” said their coach Joe Morgan.

For the Avres, wrestling is a family affair

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
March 27, 2019
This year, South’s baseball team has gotten a new head coach, Luke Pettersen. He played baseball for the U of M, which he graduated from last May. Following graduation, Pettersen then had a short stint playing for the Saint Paul Saints. Coaching is a new and exciting experience for Pettersen. “I think that a lot of what I’m going to try to do is kind of bring my own unique twist on how we play the game, but I don’t know what their styles were in the past, so a lot of what I’m trying to do is make sure I create a really fun culture for the players and try to make them really enjoy playing baseball, because I do believe it is a really important sport as far as learning life lessons for off of the field,” he said. Photo courtesy of Gopher Sports

Luke Pettersen, a fresh face to South baseball

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
March 18, 2019
Statistics about the sales popularity of different types of video games in 2017. Shooter games were a large majority, with action at a close second. Sophomore Milo Miles prefers to play shooter games to other genres. “There’s always something you can do to improve,” he said.

Violence in video games; a culture of desensitization?

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
February 10, 2019
Above is Kimberly Caprini, one of the new at large school board members, inside the poetry house in South’s Writers' Room. Caprini was very excited by the house, since she used to be involved in spoken word. As at-large director, Caprini (and Josh Pauly, another newly elected at-large director) will have the task of representing all of the Minneapolis city districts within the one MPS district. “The city wide director has the responsibility of kind of...making sure that we’re looking at everything across the board instead of just one district looking at the needs and wants of their own schools in their area,” she said.

Recent election brings new perspectives to MPS school board

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
November 20, 2018
This graphic shows the true statistics behind the proportion of millennials (ages 19-31) and Gen Xers (ages 31-50) that are eligible to vote and that actually voted in the 2016 election. Voting is extremely important, especially for younger generations, because many of the issues our votes depend on have significant effects on our futures.

Voting: an important way to have a voice in the political process

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
November 6, 2018
In the camp, residents are living in very tight, close quarters. Conditions have gotten better from what it used to be, after the involvement of outside organizations increased. “There’s a lot of food, a lot of blankets, a lot of donations coming in from churches, organizations and individuals,” said volunteer James Cross. Minneapolis police have consistently been present at the site as well.

Large tent camp brings public attention to MPLS homelessness

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
October 24, 2018
Teachers moonlight as musicians outside the classroom

Teachers moonlight as musicians outside the classroom

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
June 8, 2018
Above is an infographic showing the percent of college students who feel affected by microaggressive behavior and who feel as if their race makes them uncomfortable on campus. This research is according to a study done by the University of Illinois.

Microaggressions: the effects of subconscious biases

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
May 7, 2018
South's budget has been cut by 1.4 million dollars for the 2018-19 school year. Over 19 staff positions have been cut, and we will change back to a six period days. These changes will result in serious consequences for students and staff. Graphic: Eli Shimanski

Budget cuts lead to 21.5 position losses

Madeline Mahoney and Kinsley Wilcox-McBride
March 22, 2018
This year, negotiations between the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT), as well as the St. Paul Federation of Teachers (SPFT), and their districts have been a bit more complicated, with disagreements of the proposed changes on the district’s end: “The contractual changes that we’re asking for are not outrageous; they are best practices for teaching and learning for kids and staff,”  said South English teacher Michelle Ockman. Union members have worked to find areas where saving is possible through alternative methods. “Minneapolis is a very large district and it is also very top heavy, which means that there is a district presence that is perhaps not necessary,” said Ockman. “A lot of these administrators and positions that they have to me, are redundant. They have teachers, who are professional, who don’t necessarily need say a ‘focused instruction’ department.” Photo: Kinsley Wilcox-McBride

Minneapolis and St Paul teacher unions continue contract negotiations, demands with districts

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
February 18, 2018
Pictured above freshman Haney Mohamed and her SEA (special education assistant), Laura Anderson with students Sasha Rapacz (left) and Beatrice Kennedy-Logan (right) in the background. In this photo, Anderson copies definitions from the board into Mohamed’s notebook and explains the information that she cannot see. “When teachers write on, let's say a white board: visually impaired people cannot see the whiteboard. The SEA’s explain what is written, they tell them what it says,” said Haney Mohamed. This extra help is vital for a successful schooling experience for students with visual impairments. Picture: Kinsley Wilcox-McBride

Lack of district resources makes it harder for visually impaired students

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
December 14, 2017
One of the ways many teachers strive to create safe spaces is by asking students to share their pronouns at the beginning of the year. It is important to use proper pronouns to ensure that each student’s gender identity can be acknowledged and respected. However, more needs to be done at South to create spaces that students truly feel comfortable and safe in.

To create true safe spaces, it takes more than you might think

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
November 3, 2017
Students (far right) Minnewa Burris, Clifton Hallow, Joe Sciece, Destin Capers, Daymin Perze-LaRoque, Tyler Bonnete (far left) stand on an outlook of the "The Windows" hiking trail located in the Badlands on their first day in South Dakota. Photo courtesy of Ray Aponte

Black Hills trip brings a new outlook to the students of All Nations

Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Staff Writer
October 9, 2017
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