Data Center Industry Courts Schoolchildren With Field Trips, Storybooks and Coloring Pages
Since 2025, at least eleven organizations and companies have facilitated student visits to data centers, as reported by WIRED. The nonprofit 7x24 Exchange International has introduced a children's book titled "What is a Data Center?" featuring a honey badger named Honey. They also celebrate "International Data Center Day," which includes activities for educational institutions. In May, AFCOM provided Memorial Day flag-making kits to 3,100 first graders in Loudoun County, Virginia. Events for K-12 students were organized by 7x24 Exchange, including a trip for Fridley High School to a Cummins facility. Sabey arranged visits for Eastmont, Manson, and Quincy High Schools, while Amazon hosted Jackson-Reed High School. Alex Molnar from the University of Colorado Boulder criticized this initiative as "corporate propaganda." A Pew Research survey indicated that half of Americans have a negative perception of data centers.
Key facts
- At least eleven companies and industry groups have hosted student data center field trips since 2025
- 7x24 Exchange International promotes the children's book "What is a Data Center?" featuring a honey badger named Honey and a worker named Oliver
- AFCOM's Potomac chapter distributed Memorial Day flag kits to 3,100 first graders at 37 Loudoun County, Virginia schools in May
- 7x24 Exchange organized or attended at least six K-12 events nationwide this year
- Sabey hosted trips for Eastmont High School in May, Manson School District in January and Quincy High School last October
- Amazon's February Arlington Skills Center trip drew only Jackson-Reed High School
- A Pew Research poll of 10,000 Americans found about half see data centers as mostly bad for environment and quality of life
- Alex Molnar directs the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder
Entities
Artists
- Molly Taft
- Caroline Haskins
- Alex Molnar
- Jessica Blancas
- Reece Rogers
- Daniel Roberts
- Susan Collins
- Troy Jackson
Institutions
- 7x24 Exchange International
- Association for Computer Operations Management
- AFCOM
- WIRED
- University of Colorado Boulder
- National Education Policy Center
- Cummins
- Fridley High School
- Sabey
- Eastmont High School
- Manson School District
- Quincy High School
- Quincy School District
- Microsoft
- Vantage
- Yahoo
- Amazon
- Jackson-Reed High School
- Pew Research
- Meta
- CoreWeave
- Bloomberg
- boston.com
- Servistar
Locations
- Loudoun County
- Virginia
- United States
- Minnesota
- Washington
- Arlington
- DC metro area
- Maine
- Westfield
- Massachusetts
- Oklahoma
- Texas