Dear School Principal: Ever thought of these initiatives for your students?

To foster deeper emotional ties and cultivate a stronger sense of belonging to Singapore through ground-up initiatives?
To encourage the development of products, services, platforms and works that collect, interpret, contextualise and showcase Singapore memories and stories?

To document stories and topics from your community’s history?

Writing Your Culture is more than just a writing journey. It is a legacy of one generation, the progress of a second generation and the efforts of a new generation. Past. Present. Future.

Take a peek into Heritage Journeys: No Place Like Serangoon Gardens. It’s a living testimony of what can be achieved when we believe in the talent of the young.

Take this incredible journey with your students. Contact the Janus Education Team to arrange for a meeting with your school.

What This Book Means To Me…..Views from Teenage Authors

“Through this journey, I realised that my whole take on Singapore and how I know it will soon become part of history too. And, honestly, it did scare me to even ponder this reality. That one day, life as I know it might be forgotten as Singapore continues to reinvent itself.

But it has just reinforced the idea that an effort should be made by every generation to attempt to understand our past so that it can be a source of inspiration for the future generations…”

Wong Zi Ling, 14, Nanyang Girls’ High

“But above all, what amazed me the most were the people. Their personal recounts of life in Serangoon Gardens has made me see the difference between the past and present; how important the human touch and relationship has always been. In a way, a time capsule was opened, and I glimpsed the past only to appreciate my present more.”

Sophie Tan, 15, Broadrick Secondary

“Without all these little stories, Singapore’s history will only highlight times of turmoil and strife. The most crucial part of appreciating our past, is celebrating its happiness. But as we trudge on forward with the nation, and as skyscrapers grow taller and cast its modern shadows over the ang sar lee houses of yesteryear, we will forget our past. It is inevitable. Every uniquely-Singaporean childhood experience will fade to nothingness at the mercilessness of time.
And that is perhaps why this book is so incredibly important. Not only to me but to the nation. (It) seeks to capture and immortalize the hidden histories and forgotten memories of our past that do not have the privilege of making it into academic literature, starting with Serangoon Gardens and perhaps continuing in a systematic marathon around Singapore. Because without these documented memories, what unites us Singaporeans is merely the vague silhouette of nationalism. To truly love our nation and appreciate our past, is to learn the little tales that make up the bigger story. And this all starts, in this book, with No Place Like Serangoon Gardens.”

Lee Tat Wei, 17, ACS Independent