Data-center groups bring industry messaging into schools, WIRED finds

Data-center school programs promise career exposure and lessons about digital infrastructure. But they also deliver industry-friendly messages to children as opposition to the facilities grows. In an October 18 report, WIRED found that at least 11 companies and industry groups have hosted student visits to data centers since 2025, alongside outreach through books, classroom activities and school events.

Caroline Haskins’s reporting draws on public blogs and social media posts, with school officials explaining some partnerships. The outreach comes amid unfavorable public attitudes: a summer Pew Research poll, cited by WIRED, found that about half of 10,000 Americans surveyed considered data centers mostly bad for the environment and quality of life.

From coloring pages to economic talking points

The nonprofit 7x24 Exchange International promotes a children’s story, “What is a Data Center?,” about a honey badger touring a facility. A worker explains that employees keep the services supported by data centers available around the clock. The group also encourages people to pitch its International Data Center Day to school administrators, describing the occasion as a way to build awareness and inspire future workers.

• For elementary schools, its materials include data-center coloring pages, an evaporation science project and drawing activities about the cloud and a “data superhero.”
• For high schools, it offers a crossword puzzle and information about data-center training programs.
• Other recommended children’s books use robots, family visits and an adventure to save the internet to introduce the industry.

Some outreach pairs an unrelated school activity with an industry message. In May, the Potomac chapter of AFCOM, a data-center trade group, sponsored Memorial Day flag-making kits for 3,100 first graders across 37 Loudoun County, Virginia, schools. Along with the kits came a card presenting statistics about the industry’s “positive impact” on the local economy.

Schools point to long-running career partnerships

The school relationships are not all recent. Quincy School District communications coordinator Jessica Blancas told WIRED that the district has arranged data-center visits for many years. She described operator Sabey as a long-standing partner that provides guest speakers, mock interviews and internship opportunities. The district has also organized all-girls visits and tours for students interested in construction or engineering.

Sabey’s Washington state visitors included Quincy High School students in October 2025, Manson School District students in January and Eastmont High School students in May. Manson’s account said students learned how data centers store, process and protect information, as well as about careers in the industry.

Visits also extend beyond server buildings. In Minnesota, 7x24 Exchange took Fridley High School students to a Cummins diesel power-generation facility to learn about generators used by data centers. Amazon hosted a February trip at its Arlington, Virginia, Skills Center, a free space focused on cloud computing and job possibilities. The invitation covered DC-area high schools; only Jackson-Reed High School attended.

“A very, very big reason why corporations get involved in the schools is, quite simply, corporate propaganda—for the purpose not necessarily of selling a product, but of telling their ‘story,’”

Alex Molnar, University of Colorado Boulder research professor and National Education Policy Center director, speaking to WIRED

Who can challenge the classroom message?

Molnar’s objection centers on children’s ability to assess a sponsor’s account. He told WIRED that adults can seek alternative information and critically judge what they hear, while children occupy an “absolutely powerless position.” He argues that school districts and communities should protect them from corporate influence, rather than allow it into schools.

Several organizations did not address that scrutiny in the article. WIRED said 7x24 Exchange, Cummins and Fridley High School did not respond to requests for comment; neither did Sabey or Manson School District.