Mehlville Senior High School junior and history buff Stephanie Kukuljan recently captured first place at the Region Five National History Day Competition at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Kukuljan, 17, took first place in the Re-search Paper category of the competition, according to a Mehlville School District news release.

The theme for this year’s Research Paper category was “Communication: the Key to Understanding,” the release stated.

A member of Mehlville Senior High’s school newspaper staff, Kukuljan chose to write a research paper on the landmark court case regarding school newspaper cen-sorship — the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, which states that school ad-ministrators cannot arbitrarily censor student publications.

“It is an honor for Mehlville to have a student compete in such a prestigious competition and win first place two years in a row,” social studies teacher Angela Scheer stated in the news release.

“I am very proud of her dedication. Last year as a sophomore she beat over 40 other competitors. All these accomplishments and she still has one more year to compete. I’m sure we can all expect great things from her in the future,” the social studies teacher added.

Stephanie’s parents are Robert and Dee Kukuljan.