News Archive Photo A portion of the Lake Huron shoreline appears in this August 2020 News archive photo.

ALPENA — Two local school districts will split $15,000 earmarked for teaching kids about protecting local water and wetlands.

Alpena Public Schools will receive just over $8,000 to help students study environmental issues impacting the Thunder Bay River watershed from a grant issued by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

Thanks to the same grant, Alcona Community Schools will use nearly $7,000 to teach junior high students about coastal and wetland habitats.

The grant program on Thursday awarded a total of $205,000 to 16 freshwater-focused projects incorporating what the state calls the 3-P (problem, place, and project-based) learning model.