PC: Points of Light
By August 2026, Koziarski was serving as co-president of JaxTHRIVE, helping coordinate more than 200 volunteers drawn from 18 area high schools, according to Points Of Light. In that position, Koziarski helps bring together a network of more than 200 student volunteers representing 18 local high schools. The activity introduced students to everyday financial decisions, including budgeting, taxes and insurance.
When Austin Koziarski first arrived at JaxTHRIVE as a high school freshman, he was looking for a way to spend his time on something useful. The Jacksonville programme allowed him to tutor children who had recently arrived in the United States, including many from Afghanistan. What began as a volunteering role gradually became a much larger commitment. His work now stretches beyond tutoring, covering volunteer training, school-supply collections, holiday drives and educational events designed to help refugee families settle into their new surroundings. Koziarski joined JaxTHRIVE during his freshman year of high school. The organisation works with refugee children in the Jacksonville area, providing tutoring and other forms of community support. He eventually became co-president. JaxTHRIVE’s activities also extend outside the classroom. Koziarski has helped organise drives collecting school supplies and holiday baskets for refugee families. These efforts sit alongside the tutoring programme, giving volunteers different ways to support children and their families. For Koziarski, the work has developed from a single volunteering opportunity into a continuing role involving both community events and the practical running of the organisation. Koziarski has also helped arrange activities that focus on skills refugee students may need as they grow older. One such event was a financial literacy Reality Fair organised with VyStar Credit Union. Rather than concentrating solely on school subjects, it gave participants an opportunity to think about some of the practical choices they may encounter as they build lives in the United States. It was a small exchange within a much larger volunteer programme, but it illustrates the personal side of the tutoring work. The relationship between volunteer and student can sometimes extend beyond completing an assignment or helping with a particular lesson.
