The Northerner has selected Sports Editor Jakob Staley to be its next Editor-in-Chief. Staley will lead the publication over the 2026-27 school year.
Staley, who will be a senior in the fall, is a double major in journalism and broadcasting. A native of Morning View, Kentucky, and a graduate of Simon Kenton High School, Staley was a member of the Young Scholars Academy, a program that allows students to graduate high school with their associate’s degree.
Staley joined the Northerner in the spring of 2024 and recalls former Editor-in-Chief Emily Sisk’s persistence and influence on his decision to apply after working together in a broadcasting class.
“After our final class, she comes up to me and goes, ‘Jakob, I want you to join the Northerner, ’” he said, “I kind of brushed it off, like, I might apply.”
He recalled the moment later that day that got him to apply, after receiving an encouraging message from Sisk, imploring him to join the sports team.
“She sent me a long, long paragraph, and at the end it said ‘please apply’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘you know what, I’ll do it’”
Staley was hired as assistant sports editor for the fall 2024 semester under Matt Supinger and Alex Perez. He recalls a moment from his first semester on the team as a defining moment of his time at the paper.
“[Alex Perez] was like ‘do you want to go to West Lafayette and watch NKU men’s basketball play Purdue?’” he said, “we watched the men’s team get demolished by Purdue, but it was one of the craziest experiences of my young journalism career.”
The position is important to Staley; he expressed his admiration and respect for the job and his excitement for the work.
“It means everything. Being able to run such a historic school newspaper is insane to me,” he said, “being able to lead these great people, it just means a lot”.
As for his goals and aspirations in the position, Staley is extremely dedicated to making the Northerner print editions as “student-focused” as possible.
“The first thing I want to do is make the magazine more student-focused,’’ he said, “put students all over every single page, I just want students to be highlighted.”
He also highlighted community building as a core goal for his tenure.
“I also just want to build a great community with the northerner,” he said, “I’m gonna try and get people from the business building, SOTA, the science center, to have not just a place where people can come and write, but be like a home base for people on campus.”
Alongside student-focused magazines and community building, reporting on the info students need to know is also a goal for Staley.
“Uplift students, say what’s going on on campus, and be that outlet for students to go to whenever they need,” he said.
Staley will be leading the Northerner at a pivotal time. With the school’s tight budget and midterm elections, the staff has their work cut out for them. Staley is self-assured and excited for the year ahead. Most importantly, he knows he has the support and people behind him to succeed.
”People believing in me, too.” They know I can do it, and that just also means a lot.”