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Microsoft set to launch app created by Va. high school senior

Posted at 11:43 PM, Nov 16, 2012
and last updated 2012-11-16 23:43:54-05

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WTVR) – Microsoft is launching a new application that changes the way students communicate thanks to a 17-year-old from Virginia.

Sean McElrath is a high school senior from Alexandria, and he developed “Hallway”.  It’s a social networking site that connects students with classmates taking the same subject and allows them to get some help on topics from peers.

Microsoft caught onto the idea and enlisted another team of students from Maryland to further develop their mobile app.

Sean says the goal is to eventually connect students worldwide with the goal of taking the fear out of asking for help.

“Some really amazing profound learning happens outside the classroom in the metaphorical hallway,” McElrath said.

“Every student has that kind of fear about asking that one question that seems so straight forward but you don’t get it and you don’t want to be that one student that doesn’t get it. So everyone has that fear and having an app like this that kind of abolishes that fear is really welcoming to students,” Ramsay Khadder, a student teammate working on the project, said.

Hallway will be available in early 2013.