"Public Media Teaches Me..." [selfie time!]

It's back to school time and Protect My Public Media is celebrating public media's contributions to lifelong learning with a photo contest.

You don't need to be in school to participate. You just need to have learned something from your local public media station. Maybe you learned your ABCs and 123s on Rhode Island PBS's trusted and effective children’s programming. Possibly you learned how to cook from public media’s hallmark cooking programs. Perhaps you learned about current events happening in your local community or around the globe on public television. We want to know what public media has taught you in your life.

Here’s how you can take part:

1. Download and print the postcard below. To download, right-click the postcard, and then select save as. Save the image, and then print it.

2. With a marker, fill in the blank: Public Media Teaches Me_________. Tell us what you've learned from public media.

3. Take a picture of yourself with the postcard.

4. Then, click here. Upload your new picture and fill out the required fields. Be sure to state what public media has taught you and why it's important.

You can also share your photos on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #PubMediaSmarts.

Protect My Public Media will pick the most creative entries to feature on their blog, Facebook and Twitter on Friday, September 19, 2014. So, you have until Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 11:00 p.m. to tell us what you've learned from public media. We hope you'll join us in honoring the work by public television to make us smarter, and teach us and our children new skills every day.