A GREAT Day with keynote speaker V Spehar
Photo courtesy of Karlie Lanni / Lushlight Photography / Wikimedia Commons
On Apr. 23, 2025, SUNY Geneseo celebrated its nineteenth annual GREAT Day. GREAT Day, an abbreviation for Geneseo Recognizing Excellence, Achievement & Talent, featured a celebration of music, dance, and film, over 150 research poster presentations, and concurrent sessions ranging from the arts and humanities to a plethora of research and STEM-related topics.
Student Association (SA) Director of Student Affairs Lucas Pastwick introduced Geneseo alumni Jack ‘76 and Carol ‘76 Kramer in a light-hearted and comedic manner that set the tone for V Spehar, who expressed their gratitude for being able to attend and share their knowledge of media literacy at GREAT Day.
Some of my favorite highlights from Spehar’s keynote speech were their innate use of comedy, honesty, and language when discussing an important topic concerning media literacy and politics. They discussed their highs and lows in the media and journalism industry, especially highlighting notable figures they have met, including former President Barack Obama and former President Joe Biden, as well as members of Congress. Just a few years into their journalism career, established in 2020, Spehar has truly impacted how viewers receive their news.
As one of two student editors for the Proceedings of GREAT Day, Hailey Bernet, senior English (literature) major, and I had the privilege of interviewing V Spehar. V Spehar is a Rochester-based LGBTQIA+ podcaster, former chef and caterer, former theatre major, and American journalist best known for their TikTok account Under the Desk News. Spehar shared their rise to fame with the Geneseo community, even telling us the story of how they came to be Under the Desk News.
From educating 100 people on TikTok about ongoing political issues to attracting over three million followers who go to Spehar as their go-to news source, Spehar has truly risen from the bottom to the top. They do this through their goal of making news media less intimidating and emotionally overwhelming to the average consumer. I would love to take the time to share some of Spehar's words of wisdom with us.
Spehar wanted to emphasize that they would not have been able to come to the success they have today without the help of two TikTok creators who boosted their content: Goddess Mia and The A System. Spehar expressed great amounts of gratitude to these two creators who “identified me as a safe, trustworthy person. I always wanted to live up to that because they handed me their followers without asking for anything or telling me they were going to do that.”
As much as I would love to spoil the full 23-minute interview we had with Spehar, unfortunately, the Geneseo community will have to wait until next year’s edition of the Proceedings of GREAT Day Journal Volume 17 to get a glimpse at our lovely conversation. We hope you will stay tuned!
I will say that Spehar’s keynote presentation and way of speech have a very inspiring and straightforward way of captivating audience members, which I found to be very relieving compared to the news we often receive from left-leaning or right-leaning news programs. For Spehar, there is no use in a tug-of-war with your audience— this is simply about addressing the political facts for their audience. Finding someone who can be neutral in today’s political climate is very rare these days as we navigate extremist groups who may take their views too far. Having the opportunity to speak with Spehar, a fellow Rochester local like myself, was quite the refresher! So yes, it was truly a GREAT Day.