Facing mounting opposition to massive data center build-outs and their energy demands, the data center industry has turned to a time-tested public relations tactic: winning over schoolchildren. According to reporting by WIRED, at least eleven companies and industry groups have hosted student field trips to local data centers since 2025, while others are distributing classroom materials designed to cast the industry in a positive light.
The push comes as community pushback against data centers intensifies across the United States, with concerns over power consumption, water use and local disruption. Rather than confronting the criticism directly, some industry-friendly organizations are taking a softer approach, reaching students through field trips, storybooks, coloring pages and even holiday-themed classroom kits.
How the data center industry reaches students
The nonprofit 7x24 Exchange International, which describes data centers as "mission critical" infrastructure, is behind several of these efforts. It recommends a children's story called "What is a Data Center?" that follows a honey badger named Honey on a guided tour with a worker named Oliver, who explains that data center employees keep services available to anyone, no matter the hour.
The group also created "International Data Center Day," which it says is designed to build awareness of the industry and inspire the next generation of talent. For participating schools, it offers a celebratory crossword puzzle, data center-themed coloring pages, an evaporation-themed science project, and activities like "Draw a picture of the cloud" and "Draw a data superhero." It also promotes books for young readers, including one about two sisters who visit a data center and meet a robot named JB, another about two brothers who save the internet in a "vibrant digital world," and "Polly Packet's Precious Payload," which follows a mother teaching her daughter about data centers.
- At least 11 companies and industry groups have hosted student field trips to data centers since 2025, per WIRED's tally of public blogs and social media posts.
