The mascot for the school is the SuperStar, a cartoonish star who wears a top hat and carries a cane.

The school was formerly located in the census-designated place of Cutler until the incorporation of Palmetto Bay on September 10, 2002.

[2][3] Southwood received national attention when, on February 3, 2004, 14-year-old Jaime Rodrigo Gough, an eighth-grader was stabbed to death on campus by 14-year-old Michael Hernandez.

[7] In April 2021, Hernandez collapsed at the Columbia Correctional Institution and died of cardiac dysrhythmia attributed to morbid obesity at the age of 31.

[12][13] Southwood contains five magnet programs, for which students must audition and be accepted in order to take: Music (which contains the orchestra, band, and chorus strands), Photography, Theatre, Art, and Dance.