Brylee Phillips is one driven 12 year old.

She’s a straight-A student, a dedicated volleyball player, a dancer and as of this month, an award-winning inventor.

Phillips, the daughter of Luke Phillips and Shelia Moore-Phillips, was one of six students chosen from P.S. Jones Middle School to attend the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Academy at East Carolina University. The three-week program ran the weeks of June 15-19, June 22-26 and July 6-10 and was meant to allow students from the area to explore fields involving science, math, engineering and design. About 40 students attended the academy.

Phillips said she has been to other science camps before, but none quite like this one.

During the course of the three weeks, each student had to create an invention, and she decided to create a solution to a problem she encounters often as an athlete.

“It drives me crazy when I see people wearing their volleyball shoes outside even when they’re not supposed to,” she said.

Phillips invented “Street Smarts,” a shoe sole to slide onto athletic shoes to avoid any damage that may come from wearing the shoes outdoors.  Her creativity and innovation won her first place out of all the other inventions.

“I thought it would help athletes,” she said. “I like challenges, so the academy definitely challenges.”

Phillips said she hopes someone will pick up her invention and actually create a real model from the foam one she has now, a goal she said J. Ted Morris, associate vice chancellor of engagement, innovation and economic development at ECU, supports.

“He said that maybe with a little more work I could be on Shark Tank (a reality series for entrepreneurs) someday,” she said.

“My first impression of Brylee as she stood in front of me was about how poised and courteous she was and how her eyes and mind appeared to soak up every word that was being shared,” Sue Faucette, Phillips’ social studies teacher this past year, said in an email.  “As a student Brylee was ambitious, detail oriented, and very intelligent.  Being a self-starter, other students looked to her for her leadership qualities.”

Phillips won a slew of sixth-grade awards from teachers this school year and caught the attention of state Rep. Paul Tine for her first-place essay on wetlands conservation.

“She’s very mannerly and very helpful. She has a kind of bubbly personality,” Phillips’ grandmother Yvonne Moore said proudly. “If you present her with something, she’s not going to turn it loose until she’s finished with it.”

Phillips said she is unsure of what she wants to do as a career, but she is considering professional volleyball, sports medicine or starting a business.

“When I overcome a challenge, it makes me feel really good,” she said.