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
Madeline Mahoney

Madeline Mahoney, Editor-In-Chief

Madeline Mahoney has been contributing to the Southerner for three years now. She started as a Staff Writer and has made her way to becoming this year’s Editor-In-Chief.

Mahoney is excited to take on this new role of leadership in the newspaper. She explains how South Highs’ newspaper is a unique opportunity because it is both a class and extracurricular to learn how a newspaper works and functions.

She has many plans in store for the Southerner this year. Her main goal is to expand beyond the Southerners’ common medium of reporting, and start to create more multimedia stories such as podcasts and videos.

After this year Mahoney is going to pursue a career in medicine or public health. Due to this passion of hers, Mahoney formed a club her freshman year dedicated to other that were interested in the healthcare field. The club is called ‘Health Career Exploration Club’. It gives students the opportunity to listen to healthcare professionals.

Mahoney also enjoys going out to eat with her friends, baking chocolate chip cookies, and reading a good book by Toni Morrison. Stay tuned because there’s more to come from Madeline Mahoney.

All content by Madeline Mahoney

Phones in schools: a hard cell

Eamonn Briem and Madeline Mahoney
April 17, 2019
On April 9th, 2019 Site Council held a meeting to discuss South’s search for a new principal. Parent LaCresha Dotson described the meeting: “I think it went fairly well. I think what I heard though is that we’re a little bit behind the eight ball. We’ve got this monumental decision to make and not a whole lot of time to make it if we want to get the best candidates.”

Parents, staff, and students begin search to find new principal

Madeline Mahoney, Editor in Chief
April 9, 2019
In mid-September allegations of inappropriate messages from South English teacher, Darin Doty, to a South ‘18 graduate surfaced at South after the graduate posted the alleged apology message from Doty on her spam Instagram account. These allegations have had a deep impact on the South community. Many students expressed their feelings of sadness and betrayal, as well as the trust they had placed in Doty. As junior Cor Barnhill said, “He was one of the only adults that I trusted. I don’t really trust adults that easily and he was there for me through a lot of things."

Allegations of sexual harassment dig deep into South community

Madeline Mahoney and Henry Holcomb
October 10, 2018
Many of Tanya Hodge’s AVID students have needed to verify information on the FAFSA. “I didn’t even know [this extra verification] existed until this year because I hadn’t seen it in other years,” said Hodge. These verifications have held up the financial aid process for students. Photo: Madeline Mahoney

FAFSA verifications another obstacle in the college process

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
June 8, 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
Southwest seniors Kat Lochen and Honi Yusuf led a culture workshop on Hookup Culture: How an Entire Generation Has Messed Each Other Up. Their workshop included a presentation of hookup culture, rape culture, and misconceptions about sex. This was just one of many workshops offered at South’s annual Race 2 Justice Day. Photo: Madeline Mahoney

Race 2 Justice Day recap

Oliver Hall, Cece Kaufmann, Madeline Mahoney, and Izzy Willette
February 25, 2018

In favor of year-round school

Madeline Mahoney, Managing Editor
February 7, 2018
Just over a year ago millions of people joined the Women’s March to protest Trump’s presidency and his comments about women. Although it was wonderful to see so many people turning out to protest President Trump, much of the feminism at the march wasn’t intersectional. Intersectionality is a crucial part of understanding the experiences women go through. “It's important for people to feel like they have a place in a movement regardless of sexual orientation, gender, class, race [etc.],” said junior Natashia Otiso.

Intersectionality is essential for the feminist movement

Madeline Mahoney and Sophia Manolis
February 2, 2018
Junior Claire Bentfield paints for her seventh hour class, AP Studio Art. This is the first year that South has offered AP Studio Art. The class, taught by Cynthia Berger, combines 3-D Art, 2-D Art and Drawing. Students will send in their portfolios of twenty-four works to be judged by the College Board in May.

AP Studio Art class challenges South students

Madeline Mahoney, Managing Editor
December 1, 2017
On Thursday September 28th, several students joined hundreds of Minnesotans to protest the proposed Line 3 pipeline. Many protestors argue that this pipeline will threaten Minnesota's clean water. "Love water, not oil!", chanted protestors. Photo: Livia Lund

March against Line 3 draws students and residents alike

Madeline Mahoney, Managing Editor
September 29, 2017
South freshman Ayla Farrow and Fleur Vass host a movie screening to raise awareness of rising sea levels. This screening was part of their Ripple Effect project, a final project for Liberal Arts freshman.

From veganism to the concussion protocol, Ripple Effect projects create positive change

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
June 12, 2017
In the graphic above, people who consume meat and other animal products leave a larger carbon footprint than those who don’t. Many people don’t know that on a global scale the livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined. We need to include the animal industries in our discussions of climate change. Graphic: Eli Shimanski

Discussions of climate change must include the meat and dairy industries

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
June 5, 2017
Pictured above Ultimate Frisbee captain, Emma Krasky, plays a tough game against Forest Lake. Krasky is one of several South Frisbee players who signed an open letter which outlined their complaints about sexism in sports, and offered solutions. Photo: Tannen Holt

Female Frisbee players address sexism in an Open Letter to Minnesota Ultimate

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
May 11, 2017
Pictured above is one of South’s parent liaisons Sharon White. South's 16 million dollar budget has been cut by 2.5% for the 2017-18 school year. Due to the cuts, White has not been offered a position for the coming school year. Aponte decided to cut the welcome desk position and part-time counseling position among other things. The only department to receive a funding increase was the All Nations program.

Budget cuts affect South’s Welcome Desk, counseling, and parent liaison positions

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
April 24, 2017
On Friday April 21st a group of Washburn students came to South to perform their spoken word performance called “This is Our Fight Too.” The group of students are in their third year of Washburn’s Black Box theater program, and they all worked together to create the piece. “This is Our Fight Too” plans to visit other other schools in the area and may be coming back to South for Racial Justice Day. Photo: Madeline Mahoney

Washburn performance sparks important discussions at South’s Friday Seminar

Madeline Mahoney, Staff writer
April 23, 2017
Senior Nailah Abdullah was accepted at Drake University, a school that recently joined hundreds of others in becoming test optional. Abdullah applied without submitting her ACT score because she felt it was not a good representation of her academic ability. Many people have practical and ethical reasons for applying to test optional and test-flexible colleges.

Test optional colleges break down barriers to higher education

Madeline Mahoney, Staff writer
March 14, 2017
Seward eighth grader and gymnast for South, Ellie Barnett-Cashman, does a handstand during her floor routine at the Section 6AA Finals. At the final meet of the season South scored 116.925 points and came in 7th place. Gymnastics is a very physically demanding sport that requires full body effort. Several of South’s gymnasts feel that they receive less attention in comparison to other sports.

Flips and turns, and ups and downs: South gymnastics finishes their season strong

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
February 22, 2017
17 to 23 million animals are used in the United States for biomedical research each year, and that number is on the decline. The vast majority of these animals are mice, rats, fish, or birds. Animals used in biomedical research should be the least of our animal welfare concerns. Nearly ten billion animals are killed for food in the U.S. each year making the number of animals used in research appear rather insignificant. Statistics used in the graphic are from the Hastings Center in 2010. Graphic: Madeline Mahoney

Biomedical animal research should be the least of our animal welfare concerns

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
January 3, 2017
The Electoral College is the system through which we elect our president in the United States. Many people have issues with our current system, including many students at South. Critics of the Electoral College point out that the vote of a person in Wyoming counts nearly three times as much as the vote of a person in California based off the ratio of population to electoral votes. Graphic: Eli Shimanski

Electoral College gains attention after recent election

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
November 30, 2016
My texts were all in caps

My texts were all in caps

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
November 25, 2016
The ACT website has reported that 57% of students of retake the ACT improve their composite score. Students applying to selective colleges should consider taking the ACT a second time to help achieve the best possible score. To achieve your highest score, make sure to make use of prep classes and practice tests available.

Why you should take the ACT more than once

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
November 15, 2016
Signs set up by Tracine Asberry while campaigning in Linden Hills Park.

MPS School Board candidates aim to achieve equality

Madeline Mahoney, Staff Writer
October 26, 2016
Signs set up by Tracine Asberry while campaigning in Linden Hills Park.

[Photo] What to do when your favorite entertainer does something problematic

Tatiana Burch, Staff Writer
October 17, 2016
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