RUMFORD — Mountain Valley High School provides a wide variety of technology classes from video production to pre-engineering. Those classes are designed to provide students with real life challenges to test their problem-solving skills.

One such challenge involved mapping and designing the interior space for the Western Maine Play Museum in Wilton. Jubilee Bailey, one of the board members and co-chair of the museum’s design committee, asked her husband, technology teacher Jeff Bailey, for a map of the building that would house the museum.

Jeff immediately assigned the task to sophomore Eric Deanis, one of his architectural design and iTeam students.

Jeff said, “I chose Eric because he is skilled in CAD (computer-aided design) and has been very dependable. He doesn’t give up when faced with a tough challenge.”

A helpful young man who enjoys anything to do with computers, Deanis jumped at the chance to use and improve his skills.

Deanis explained, “I got involved in the Play Museum from my teacher, Mr. Bailey. He thought since I had a love for designing models in Google Sketchup that I would be a perfect candidate.”

Google Sketchup is three-dimensional modeling program used in architectural, civil and mechanical engineering as well as film and video design. For example, it can be used to create floor plans and then turn those plans into a virtual building.

Deanis said, “My role in the museum project was to create a preliminary model of the building. I created three displays for the project – one for a visual of the space, one with the dimensions of the building and one with labels.”

The three displays were used to help the museum’s design committee better understand the space available to design exhibits, to create a brochure for fundraising and to create a map for museum patrons.

To those unfamiliar with Sketchup, it may sound like child’s play. However, Deanis encountered problems along the way. As he solved those problems, his skills increased.

He said, “A few things that I learned while working on this project was how to layer the model to give it a streamlined, clean view of each of the three components.”

Asked if he would recommend a similar project to classmates, he said, “This is a project I wouldn’t recommend to all students since it requires an in-depth understanding of the program. I accepted the challenge since I enjoy using the program, problem-solving and challenges in general.”

The organizers of the Play Museum were so impressed with Deanis’ work that they used it in a fund-raising brochure. His floor plans form the core of the inner surface of the brochure.

Angela McLeod, president of Western Maine Play Museum, said, “The Play Museum will be a place of interactive learning, so we love the idea of a local student being involved and developing his skills while working on this real life project.”

For more information on the Western Maine Play Museum, go to their Facebook page or www.westernmaineplay.org.