Corning's commitment to learning in China is growing along with a key program that brings rural teachers to the city each summer for two weeks of intense training and encouragement from private-sector supporters. Aiding the iFly program for a fourth year, Corning not only continued support of Shanghai efforts but helped with the launch of a Beijing-area initiative.

This summer, iFly Shanghai welcomed 167 teachers from Xinjiang, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Yunnan while iFly Beijing embraced 150 teachers from Inner Mongolia, Hunan, Guangxi, and Sichuan. A total of 800 local citizens and organization representatives welcomed the teachers. During the Shanghai program, the teachers attended museum visits, lectures, and city tours in both Shanghai and Suzhou. For the Beijing program, in addition to lectures and tours, the teachers spent time at China's top universities — Tsinghua University and Peking University.

• Founded in 2007, iFly marked its 10th year of continuous efforts toward improving rural education.
  
• iFly has brought to its training programs in Shanghai and Beijing over 1,900 rural teachers from more than 10 provinces and towns in central and western China, benefiting around 300,000 students nationwide.
  
• The program has been widely supported, with over 50 volunteer lecturers, more than 800 hosting families, over 200 participating companies and organizations, and roughly 8,000 volunteers.

At the Shanghai training, Corning China was glad to have the opportunity to host a one-hour iFly Public Lecture for the teachers. Corning’s director of Emerging Business Development in China, offered a lecture called ‘Drive into the Glass Age,’ which introduced the history of glass, its current applications, and the future possibilities that Corning aims to investigate.

The vivid presentation and the cutting-edge technologies drew the teachers’ attention. They actively took part in the Q&A section and offered creative ideas possible uses of different types of glass. ​

'Hosting Rural Teachers at Home' enabled Corning’s manager of Information Security & Office Management at Shanghai RHQ, to spend a day with one of the Corning-sponsored teachers. He joined the teacher from Yunnan Province on a culture tour in Shanghai, covering landmarks such as the Shanghai Museum, Yu Garden, and Xintiandi.

"The diversity of the group was exciting," he said. "Hundreds of enthusiastic Shanghai citizens and rural teachers from Xinjiang, Qinghai, Guizhou, and Yunnan were teamed up for a day of discovery in Shanghai, getting a taste of its people and culture. I hope that more and more families will join us in this event next year."

Fulfilling the 'children's wish list' has always been a popular iFly event among Corning employees. This summer, colleagues from various sites in China sent along their gifts and greetings including books, basketballs, sport shoes, and clothes.

Other colleagues wrote responses to the 'ideal wish cards,' encouraging children's ambitions, such as becoming a doctor or a rural teacher in the future.