WOODBURY — Have you ever wondered who is really behind a lot of the events that occur through the Woodbury FFA? A team of people, including chapter officers and teachers, is usually planning each event.

One person, however, is at almost every one of these events and has had a large part in planning them for the last few years.

Senior Samantha Kostka is always willing to help out, whether it’s planning chapter events, participating in these events, becoming chapter president, or even going to the FFA National Convention three times — something most students are unable to do.

Eric Birkenberger, a teacher who has worked closely with Kostka, values her contributions to the school and the FFA.

“Sam has always been involved in the FFA and continues to help after school in various activities like the plant sales, clothing drives, the Christmas wreath sale and many more. She even does the morning chores for our large animals,” Birkenberger said.

Kostka explained the origin of her taking over a morning task that usually wouldn’t fall to a student.

“The morning chores started by wanting to help a teacher since she already had a lot of chores around the school, and it just kind of happened to become an everyday thing,” Kostka said.

Working with Birkenberger has helped teach Kostka multiple skills, many of which she will take with her throughout her life.

“Working with Birk gave me a lot of patience, and it also taught me to work well with teachers and build a relationship with them,” Kostka explains. 

She is known to participate in most of the CDEs.

“Starting in freshman year, I’ve participated in milk quality, conduct of chapter, meat judging, parliamentary procedure, ag sales, and even food science.”

Not only that, but she has been to Nationals for the past three years as well. The FFA Nationals are held each year to bring FFA chapters from each state together to compete and make connections. Going to the National Convention even once is a hard feat to complete. She worked her way up through teams from states to eventually Nationals. 

“Honestly it felt really good going to Nationals multiple times,” Kostka says. “Especially for my last time this past fall because I was a last-minute person added to the team. It felt really good that they chose me out of all the people.”

Kostka has many close friends, one of which is senior Alyssa Gravel. Gravel has nothing but praise for her friend.

“She has been on various teams such as the goat show team and has gone to Nationals for parliamentary procedure and also as a part of the floriculture team,” Gravel states. “She was also president of our chapter and is a great role model for others.”

But FFA also helped her in other ways, not just the competition side. 

“Sam was always an awesome, active, nice and a kind-hearted person,” states Birkenberger. “The FFA gave her an opportunity to refine her skills as a person, but she’s always had them; the FFA just helped to enhance her skills like leadership and communication with people.” 

Throughout her life, Kostka has realized many accomplishments and plans to continue doing so.

“I think our greatest accomplishment together in the FFA is something that hasn’t even come out yet,” says Kyleigh Paige, another close friend of Kostka. “We are currently working on the 2024-25 memory book for ag, and we so badly want this to be different from other books in the past. We are working hard to make it fun and unique to our chapter and our year.”  

Kostka jumps at any opportunity the FFA gives her. 

“FFA gave me a lot of leadership opportunities that I don’t think that I would ever get from anywhere else,” says Kostka. “The skills I have learned from my position are skills that I can use anywhere later in life. I learned how to work well with a team and communicate well with my peers.”

One such opportunity was a trip to Yellowstone National Park last April.

“My favorite memory of me and Sam is when we went on the Yellowstone trip together during spring break,” says Gravel. “Being together 24 hours a day for a whole week was definitely a bonding experience for us and brought us closer and is our favorite trip to this day.” 

“Yellowstone was a really good trip. Flying was a whole different experience for a school trip and Mrs. [Jennifer] Jedd did a good job of organizing the trip,” Kostka says. “Overall, the trip gave me new experiences and lasting memories.”

Through being friends with Kostka for many years, Paige has seen how truly caring Kostka really is. 

“We talked through the bad things we were going through, and I feel like that day was the first day I could consider Sam my best friend,” states Paige. “And although Sam went through so much, she never stops thinking about others. And this was one of those times, because even though she had recently lost a best friend, she still was worried about me and what I was going through.”

When asked if there was one person in particular that changed her life, Kostka had someone in mind right away.

“My best friend Gabriela Reitmeyer,” Kostka said. “She definitely helped me shape my life and cherish every moment and time with friends, family and everyone around me. She also taught me to live life to the fullest and take every opportunity presented.”

“That’s just the kind of person Sam is. She cares about people more than anyone can comprehend,” explains Paige. “Sam is also one of those people I can always count on day and night. She will answer her friends no matter what even if it’s late at night I can always rely on her.”