The Party Wasn’t for Me — But the Lesson Was

In The Know with Tony Reeves · Aug 10, 2026 · 16m

In the fall of 1987, just days into my freshman year at the University of Tampa, I was invited to my first real off-campus college party on Davis Island. I had an idea of what a college party was supposed to look like. Music. Food. Dancing. People having a good time. What I found was a beach, a couple of kegs, no food, no music, and an environment where I was one of only a few Black students — and I didn’t drink. At the time, I could have easily dismissed the entire experience as a bad party.Looking back nearly 40 years later, however, I realize that night taught me something much more…