2025 Trailblazer Alumna Award

The Mercy High School Alumnae Association is proud to announce the recipient of the 2025 Trailblazer Alumna Award, Emily Wilkins '09. Based on the Mercy Core Values of Compelled by Mercy, Educational Courage, Inspired by Faith, Principled Leadership and A Voice For Dignity and Respect, the Trailblazer Alumna Award is designed to honor an alumna who graduated within the years 2005 - 2020 and is commended for her incredible efforts to make a difference early in her career. 

Mercy President Dr. Cheryl Delaney Kreger '66 will present her award during Tea for Tuition on Sunday, April 13, 2025. We invite you to join us! Learn more here.

Emily Wilkins '09

Emily Wilkins is an award-winning reporter and Washington, D.C. correspondent for CNBC, where she covers Congress and the intersection of business, politics, and policy. She has reported on government shutdowns, fiscal cliffs, House Speaker races, and has broken news on AI and cryptocurrency policies. Emily has covered multiple election cycles, traveling across the country to report on pivotal House and Senate races.

In 2024, Emily served as the 117th President of the National Press Club, a prestigious professional organization with 2,500 journalist and communicator members. During her tenure, she established the Press Freedom Center to strengthen the Club’s advocacy for journalists in the U.S. and abroad, solidifying its role as a leader in press freedom. She played a key role in advocacy efforts for the safe return of detained journalists, including Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Austin Tice, while also focusing on the growing threats facing domestic reporters.

Emily earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from Michigan State University in 2013. Throughout college, she worked at The State News, MSU’s student newspaper, and was named Managing Editor in her senior year.

Her work has been recognized with multiple honors, including the Innovator Award from Michigan State University’s DC Alumni Chapter, the Sheroes in Media Award from the Multicultural Media & Correspondents Association, and the Annual Foreign Press Award from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA.

Before joining CNBC, Emily’s reporting appeared in Bloomberg, Bloomberg Government, CQ Roll Call, The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times, The Houston Chronicle, USA Today, and The Cambodia Daily.

Her journalism journey began with bylines in the Farmington Observer and Mercy’s Newsprint.

Trailblazer Alumna Award Recipients