By NATALIE MAZEY
Hyperlocal community journalism like the alley is a pinnacle of democracy, uplifting local voices and local stories. Especially in a time when Minnesota is a focus of national and international news, fostering local voices allows us to exist within the community and lean on one another. News on Minnesota should come from Minnesotans.
The Southerner, South High’s student-written and student-produced newspaper is a prime example of how fostering community journalism in young people upholds our community in a time of shaky ground.
Griffin Larson, Editor-in-Chief and Opinions & Visuals Editor, is a senior at South. Since his Freshman year, he’s worked on The Southerner, covering stories from budget cuts to the aftermath of COVID on students. During his time as a student journalist, Larson has found hyperlocal community news as a way to stay grounded.
“It’s really easy, especially now, when so many crazy things are happening, to disassociate from the news,” Larson said. “But I think following the news on a really hyper local scale, and practicing those skills of being involved and learning what goes into reporting to be able to better understand the news that we’re reading is really important.”
Learning the skills of a journalist in the classroom, at South High, and in the greater community, has given Larson and his fellow students skills that build stronger community members.
“There’s a lot of skills that go into interviewing,” Larson said. “[Like] learning how to talk to people, figuring out how to write, how to ask the right questions, letting them speak more for their own opinion, and then having the opportunity to give people a platform and give people voice about issues that are important.”
Oliver Stricherz, Arts and Entertainment Editor at the Southerner and senior at South High, echoes this sentiment.
“Being able to look at the world through the eyes of a journalist, I’ve discovered so much more that’s happened in the immediate South community,” Stricherz said. “It made me feel like I should be more involved because there’s a story everywhere. I notice a lot more things, and I think that it’s good for high schoolers to do that because it’s a whole different perspective – the ways that high schoolers see the world.”
Stricherz’s time at the Southerner has led him to write stories on artists in his school and events in the community like the Twin Cities International film festival – you can read some of his reviews of the film festival in past issues of the alley! The opportunities of student journalism transcend the walls of the high school community.
“South exists within a community, and we try to never forget that,” Stricherz said.
Everly Comeaux is a junior going into her second year with the Southerner as the Features Editor. The skills she’s learn as a student journalist have led her to dig deeper into the news.
“As teenagers, it’s really easy to see some current event on social media, and think that you already know the whole picture just because you saw one Instagram post or one TikTok about it,” Comeaux said. “But being in a journalist’s perspective has helped me dive deeper and read more stories about what’s actually going on, instead of seeing something and automatically believing it.”
Writing stories about her community like school plays and the inaccessibility of school bathrooms have deeply entrenched Comeaux in her community.
“[Being a student journalist is] a great way to see the community while being active in the community,” Comeaux said.
To read the work of these student journalists, go to shsoutherner.net. The Southerner’s website is updated frequently, and their print edition is published quarterly. Keep an eye out for more of their community journalism in the alley and consider writing for the alley yourself! Community journalism is a pinnacle of democracy, now more than ever.
NATALIE MAZEY serves on the board of Alley Communications and is a senior at Macalester College.
