On 21 February 2014, 45 students from Secondary 1 to 4 participated in 938 Live’s CAMPUS Radio Talk Show. Hosted by Angela Lim, the broadcast aims to feature the voices of youths on national radio.

The topic at hand for the broadcast at Anglican High School was “What makes us Singaporeans?” Anchored by four panelists, Mr Tai Lee Siang, co-chairperson of the Singapore50 Steering Committee, Mr Daryl Tan and Ms Lily Koh, teachers at Anglican High School and Miss Esther Chong, a Secondary Four student, the session started with a bang with a plethora of perspectives being presented. Mr Tai expressed his pride in the achievements of Singapore in the last 50 years and encouraged youths to consider the future direction for Singapore in the next lap.

Mr Daryl Tan gave his take on seeing Singapore history as a personal narrative belonging to each and every Singaporean while Ms Lily Koh shared her views on the distinctiveness of Singlish and the ability of Singaporeans to manoeuvre adeptly in a cosmopolitan setting due to their exposure to the different cultures in Singapore. Miss Esther Chong contributed a youthful perspective to the discussion by sharing her views on “Kiasuism” and how she perceived it as a positive driving force for continuous improvement.

Students who were members of the audience also participated actively in the discussion, responding to panelists’ opinions and contributing their ideas on what they deemed made up the Singaporean identity, such as a love for food from different cultures, being caught up in the paper chase, as well as a movement away from competitiveness to that of learning to be more gracious citizens.

It was an immense learning experience for the students, not solely through their participation in the broadcast on the day itself, but also through the preparatory process of being exposed to background readings on the Singaporean identity, reflections on salient questions regarding the Singaporean identity and participation in regular discussion sessions facilitated by teachers.