Data Center Industry Targets K-12 Students With 11+ Field Trips as Backlash Grows
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Oct 18
Data Center Industry Targets K-12 Students With 11+ Field Trips as Backlash Grows
1 articles · Updated · WIRED · Oct 18
Summary
At least 11 companies and industry groups have hosted student trips to data centers since 2025, while trade groups pushed children’s books, coloring pages, school activities and a branded “International Data Center Day.”
The outreach comes as opposition to large, power-hungry campuses intensifies; a summer Pew poll found about half of 10,000 Americans surveyed viewed data centers as mostly bad for the environment and quality of life.
In Loudoun County, Virginia, AFCOM’s Potomac chapter sponsored Memorial Day flag-making kits for 3,100 first graders across 37 schools, paired with cards touting the industry’s local economic benefits.
7x24 Exchange also organized or joined at least a half-dozen K-12 school events this year, including a Minnesota trip to a Cummins generator facility to show students equipment that powers data centers.
Education-policy researcher Alex Molnar said the campaign mirrors long-running school outreach by industries with image problems, arguing children lack the ability to critically assess corporate messaging.