“It’s beautiful!” 9-year-old Gracie Barkley exclaimed from the top deck of the boat as she looked out onto the water.

Before reaching the shipwrecks, students were able to view the S.S. Alpena, the oldest freighter on the Great Lakes, heading for LafargeHolcim. Built in 1942, the cement carrier has been in operation for 79 years.

Meag Schwartz, network coordinator with the Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, accompanied the classes on the Lady Michigan.

“Fourth-grade Alcona Elementary students have been working on reducing lunchroom waste at their own school, and this event kind of culminates that,” Schwartz explained before boarding the Lady Michigan.

Gracie Barkley, 9, and her mom Jessie Barkley enjoy a beautiful Tuesday morning on the Lady Michigan glass-bottom boat in Alpena.

She said that classroom program was made possible through a NOAA Marine Debris Prevention grant.

“The fourth-grade teacher has been working with the students to do lunchroom waste audits to see what kind of plastics and other types of waste are being generated at the schools, and then, the students have identified some areas where they might be able to reduce their waste,” Schwartz said.

She brought along a plankton net.

“We are going to be throwing a plankton net behind the glass-bottom boat to tow for microplastics and see if we find anything just by skimming the waters,” she said.

The net did not actually bring in any microplastics on Tuesday.

Alcona Elementary fourth-graders look over the edge of the Lady Michigan glass-bottom boat at the Haltiner shipwreck.

“We’re learning how to get rid of it and get it out of the lakes and stuff,” Barkley said of microplastics. “Because it’s not good for the fish, and, like, all the sea creatures in the water. It’s not healthy.”

She said it was a pretty cool field trip, and better than being in the classroom.

Abby Belanger, 11, agreed with her friend that “It’s really pretty.” Both girls had been on the glass-bottom boat before when they were younger, but they didn’t remember it.

For more information about Alpena Shipwreck Tours aboard the Lady Michigan, visit www.alpenashipwrecktours.com.

An over-the-rail view of the Haltiner shipwreck from the Lady Michigan glass-bottom boat on Tuesday.

The U.S.S. Alpena, the oldest freighter on the Great Lakes, makes its way into LafargeHolcim on Tuesday morning.