Data center groups bring school materials and field trips to kids

In short: The data center industry is increasingly showing up in schools with kid-focused lessons, books, and field trips as more communities push back against new facilities.

What's going on

Data centers are large buildings filled with computers that store and move online information (like the back room that keeps apps and websites running). WIRED reports that some industry groups are trying to build goodwill by reaching students, including very young children.

One example comes from 7x24 Exchange International, a nonprofit linked to the data center world. It recommends a children’s story called “What is a Data Center?”, where a honey badger named Honey tours a data center with a worker who explains that staff keep services available at any hour.

The same group promotes “International Data Center Day,” and provides school materials. For high schools, it offers things like a crossword and information on training programs. For elementary schools, it offers coloring pages and activities like “Draw a picture of the cloud” (the “cloud” is just other people’s computers you access over the internet).

Other organizations and companies are also involved. WIRED says the Potomac chapter of AFCOM sponsored flag-making kits for 3,100 first graders in Loudoun County, Virginia, along with an informational card highlighting the industry’s local economic impact.

WIRED also found that since 2025, at least eleven companies and industry groups have hosted student field trips to local data centers. Examples include trips hosted by Sabey for Washington state students and an Amazon field trip to its Arlington, Virginia “Skills Center,” a free community space focused on “cloud computing” and jobs.

What to watch

A Pew Research poll cited by WIRED found about half of surveyed Americans see data centers as mostly bad for the environment and quality of life. Watch for more school outreach as data center projects face closer scrutiny, especially in places where proposed sites are near schools.

Source: Wired