By Nina Sinclair, News Editor, 7th-Grade
NOE MIDDLE SCHOOL, FEB. 23, 2026 – Journalism was introduced this school year at Noe and with that came the first Editor-In-Chiefs of The Noetice, the school’s online publication, Harper Lile and Caden Green. Lile and Green are eighth-graders and dedicated journalists.
The two produced more stories every week than the rest of the classes combined.
They both have been accepted to Manual High School’s High School University (HSU) program.
Lile, while being a journalist, also has aspirations to become a professional tennis player. She got third place in a national doubles tournament and won a sectional singles tournament and plans to go on to play on the Manual tennis team.
Green is also an athlete. She plays soccer for the Noe as well as club for Racing Louisville Soccer Academy.
They both have many plans for the future.
For Green, Journalism is an outlet and a way to share her voice with the world.
When asked how she felt about becoming the first co-editor-in-chief, she responded, “Being the first co-editor-in-chief of Journalism, I felt like there was a lot of potential in the classroom and I got to set the standard for those that will follow and set the guidelines for the staff.”
Green and her co-editor-in-chief, Lile, quickly set the rules and guidelines that their staff had to follow in order to run a timely and structured newsroom.
For example, everyone must turn in their story by the end of the week. Establishing deadlines makes it clear what you have to do to stay on staff, ensuring that the staff isn’t slacking off throughout the week.
If you don’t turn in your story on time, you’re off the staff. That’s it. The staff have had to adjust to this and they have grown in many ways.
“I feel like something that makes me a strong leader is my communication and organization”
-Caden Green
“I feel like as the year has gone on, the staff has been comfortable interviewing and talking to people to get their story ideas across,” Green said. “This has really helped them get the information they need when further writing stories. Overall, they are more willing to dig deep and find the true meaning behind the story.”
Now, staff are more willing to work hard on their stories and really uncover the truth and meaning about them.
What makes Editor-In-Chief Green stand out from the crowd?
“I feel like something that makes me a strong leader is my communication and organization,” she said. “I take charge and make sure that everyone in staff knows what they’re supposed to be doing and knows the story idea. I gather information and try to help everyone in the classroom the best that I can.”
To be a leader, one needs to have strong leadership skills such as communication. One needs to be willing to communicate with your fellow employees to get the point across about what one wants from the staff.
Secondly, one needs the right motive to succeed, to make the program and the students better in the process. One is a good leader because they share a common goal with the staff.
“As the leader in the classroom you have to get a bunch of issues handed to you from other people in the class, you have to make sure that not only they succeed in the story, but Journalism class as a whole succeeds,” Green said.
This passion drives her closer with the staff and pushes her to lead her classroom to success. Green strives to be a good leader and to set an example for future editor-in-chiefs.
Lile was a born editor, and knew right away her intention for Journalism and the program.
“Knowing that we were the first, I was very excited because I love to create new things and I was very excited to create this whole system and new pathway,” Lile said.
She was very anxious to get started on molding her staff members and newspaper into a well-known piece of literature at Noe.
She came up with strategies to produce the most amount of stories they could every week and made sure everyone was always on task by finding ways to motivate her staff.
I had a lot of excitement and energy coming into this because I really wanted to produce stories, I really wanted to help the website, so I think that helps motivate the other kids as well. I think they like to see a leader that really is invested.”
-Harper Lile
“We created a tradition of doing staff member of the week, where we would shine a light on a staff member and give them a piece of candy if they did really well that week,” Lile said. “It was a way to motivate the staff and give them a little incentive.”
Lile demonstrates leadership skills when she purposefully tries to find ways to include her staff by making things fun. Lile knew just how to motivate her fellow staff members, leading to the best possible outcome for The Noetice.
Many students will remember her long after she graduates, leading future generations to lead a successful newspaper.
“I had a lot of excitement and energy coming into this because I really wanted to produce stories, I really wanted to help the website, so I think that helps motivate the other kids as well. I think they like to see a leader that really is invested,” Lile said.
Overall, Green and Harper are outstanding editor-in-chiefs and they will always be a part of Noe Journalism history, maybe one day becoming successful journalists themselves. Whatever they do, they will succeed in many ways and always be in our hearts.
