As the campus comes to life in gradual stages, a lavender-eucalyptus scent seeps out from administrative assistant Brianna Russell’s frosted-glass candlewarmer. Around the office are an assortment of practical items and knicknacks: a vintage electric hole-puncher, two plastic potted plants, a decrepit typewriter that has lost its ink ribbon-roll and dual sign-in clipboards. The shelves behind her alternate between sentimental—with framed photos, crocheted tulips in a glass vase, a stuffed dragon and old Christmas decorations—and densely-packed work papers in binders and crosswise-staggered stacks. 

Russell, who was once the first bubbly face to greet a visitor as the receptionist, now operates as the backbone of the campus—scheduling the air conditioning and lights that operation depends on—and the nervous system that holds together the various muscled-extracurricular operations. As the campus has grown, so has Russell alongside it. Many still know her by her maiden name, Searcy, as does her golden nameplate. 

“Ultimate happiness, it’s not money,” Russell said. “It’s not rewards. It is simply happiness and where you are in your life and how you end up and the people you’re around…If they’re filling your cup as well.”

Russell said she has “100%” achieved this, in part from the people in her life and the fulfillment her job brings. Her entire life, Russell has wanted to work in education, and now, she’s right where she wants to be.

“I actually was going to college to become a teacher, and then life just took me in a different direction,” Russell said. “But I always wanted to end up in education somehow.”

When Russell first became a freshman at Texas A&M University, she was studying to be a nurse at their Corpus Christi campus but switched to major in history by the end of her first year. Later on, she transferred to the University of Houston but didn’t complete her history degree.

“It was a matter of life, personal choices,” Russell said. “And college costs money. So, you just got [to] figure that out. [It] ended up working in the long run. I was meant to come back.”

Before Russell’s run in education, she worked for a subcontracting company as an assistant manager, scheduling projects for the team and completing clerical work, which is not unlike her duties as an administrative assistant. As a child, her dream was always to become a teacher, but Russell said she has now prefers working on the administrative side of education.

“The teachers, they have to take their work home with them,” Russell said. “I’m very grateful to have a job that once I leave here, I’m not working. I can clock out and go be with my family and be a mom and be a wife, and I don’t have to worry about it.”

The reason the job opening at Clements caught her eye was because of its association with Travis High School, which Russell graduated from. Both schools are part of Fort Bend ISD. Back then, her “gig,” Russell said, was cheer and living life to the fullest. Her advice to high schoolers is of a similar vein.

“There’s life after this, big life,” Russell said. “Just think about that whenever it feels like it’s too much, not saying that there’s nothing here. What you’re going through is valid. And it’s stressful. And it’s a lot.”

The stress on teenagers has risen over the years, Russell said, and become “so intense and so heavy.” But all it takes to dispel the pressure, she said, is the liberation of getting out and seeing the real world.

“I just can’t wait for that for y’all,” Russell said. “But I also am like, I miss being your age because the innocence of it…not the lack of responsibility, but being an adult, it comes with so much heavy responsibility…You’re in this great bubble right now where you can enjoy. So, choose to enjoy. Don’t choose to stress so hard.”

It is Russell’s sixth year at Clements. She started as the front office’s receptionist two months before COVID hit. When the lockdown happened, she and everybody else moved off-campus to work from home. All day, Russell recounted, she would be answering the main phone line from a school-issued laptop. 

“Coming back, there was hardly anybody here,” Russell said. “So that gave me a chance to venture in the building and walk around myself, like get kind of lost but really learn the layout.”

The absence of students also gave her the opportunity to talk to long-time employees, to learn the “true history” and get the “lowdown,” in Russell’s words. 

“I just kind of became on compass with this place,” Russell said. “It was special. It was weird, but it was cool. It was good being a part of the team for how chaotic that time was.”

COVID brought Russell one of her favorite memories to date: having lunch with her “office friends” in the then-revamped teacher’s lounge or, on rarer occasions, eating out together.

“We wanted to make it a point that from a distance because it was COVID, we could still have lunch together,” Russell said. “And because I was pregnant, my craving at the time was Chipotle. So my friends and I, we used to order Chipotle once a week and we’d go have lunch there. And there’s a picture of me with my big belly and my food. I loved that part the most.”

In October, 2023, Russell—to spend more time with her two-year-old son—joined Assistant Principals Ashli Taylor and Kevin Byrd in the upstairs office as the new administrative assistant. 

“It was a really good match, and we were excited to welcome her to our office too,” Taylor said. “She is just such a kind, warm person. She cares about people…She’s very thorough in the things that she does. When she’s in charge of something, she makes sure that it gets done.”

Byrd, who first met her as the receptionist in the summer of 2021, said she was “absolutely perfect” for being the face of Clements. As he’s gotten to witness her work ethic up close, Byrd’s impression has only strengthened. He’s grown to appreciate her more, he said, especially her “everyday” positivity.

“She’s a really good balance in between Ms. Taylor and myself,” Byrd said. “She keeps things organized. She keeps them light. It’s never a heavy feel to anything. It’s always happy. So it’s a brightness to the office that is needed sometimes, because we deal with some gloomy things up here sometimes and things that aren’t fun. She helps us keep it all together.”

Christy High, the associate principal’s assistant, describes Russell as the “epicenter” of Clements with the “biggest heart” and everything else you’d want in a person. 

“[I was] one of the first people she told that she was going to have a baby,” High said. “She was like, ‘Look, I’m not telling anybody.’ I was so moved that she would share that with me first. It was amazing. She’s like my little sister. I love her to pieces. What’s not to love about her, you know?”

Many people remember Russell’s smile the best, her bubbly attitude and willingness to help. That has not changed, even as she’s moved into the upstairs office.

“As much as I love the front office, I was looking forward to essentially upgrade, get more responsibility, and have a little more time off,” Russell said. “This position, you get a month off in the summer, whereas in the front desk, you work year round.”

Certain days are more stagnant than others, Russell said, though the opposite is also true. She considers her job a seasonal one, changing with the ebbs and flows of student activity. Her main duties, however, have to do with the building itself, from scheduling the air conditioning and lights to designating space usage for extracurriculars through Facilitron. 

“People put in what they need,” Russell said. “I check and make sure it’s available. I say, ‘Yes, we’re good.’ If it’s something that’s happening right away or within a week, I order air and lights right away.”

If the event is happening later on, in a month or two, Russell stores it away in a folder temporarily.

“We have a policy that I cannot order air and lights up until a month in advance,” Russell said. “I can’t just mass order, essentially. So, that keeps me busy every beginning of [the] month.”

To order the lights and AC, Russell matches up the times and dates on two separate platforms—one for reservations and another for the maintenance, the category that the lights and AC fall under. 

“Essentially, this building’s a big hotel, so I schedule everything that happens in the building,” Russell said. “We’re like the behind-the-scenes crew as secretaries here.”

Anytime an extracurricular activity needs space afterschool, especially when it comes to the gym or the Commons, the go-to person is Russell. In peak seasons, that usually means Russell is juggling twenty or so entities—which she usually schedules in advance, if possible—trying to allocate the necessary space for everybody. 

“She’s a problem solver,” Assistant Band Director Leslie Flynn said. “She’s positive whenever the world feels like it’s on fire and she handles our issues really well, but she’s also really supportive…The air conditioning isn’t on without Ms. Russell, and that’s very important to us.”

Flynn estimated that band goes to Russell for scheduling at least once a week. While space isn’t always available, Flynn said Russell always tries her best to figure something out.

“We probably had two conflicts this entire year because she’s so good at it,” Flynn said. “She’s like our middle man or middle woman…that way we don’t have to go and contact eight people. She just does it all in one fell swoop and it’s efficient.”

Beyond basic scheduling, Cheer Coach Katherine White said that another important part of Russell’s job is her approachability—which isn’t required but allows the building to run more smoothly, keeps the teachers from binging on the “nitty-gritty paperwork” and facilitates a more positive school culture. White is also “real-life friends” with Russell.

“She’s the kind of person who will reach out when she thinks you need something,” White said. “She will invite you to anything. She’ll give you the shirt off her back. She is just the kind of person you need in your life…Ten out of ten, everyone needs a friend like Ms. Russell. Highly recommend.”

White also attended Russell’s wedding back in April of 2023. White and her husband were the ones to drive the newly weds to their hotel.

“Her husband was super excited to be in my husband’s mustang,” White said. “Now we’re both pregnant at the same time, so we’ve been texting a lot about baby stuff. We’re both having a hard time picking a baby name, so we’ve been commiserating about that.”

Whenever the cheer team travels out of town for competitions, White files all of the travel paperwork through Russell. So do all the other extracurriculars, like golf. Economics teacher and Golf Coach Jason Jezek remembers meeting Russell for the first time while panicking over travel paperwork, a common occurrence.

“She’s always been super positive, always in a great mood, never seems to—even though I know we all have bad days—she never acts like she’s having a bad day,” Jezek said. “I mean, she is a rock here at Clements…She’s kind of one of those things that really helps make Clements tick, and that’s one thing I’ll always know about her. She is all about Clements and she loves this place.”

Usually, Russell is the one keeping him “in line” with paperwork, Jezek said, politely emailing him reminders about due dates and being a “big cheerleader.” She’s the one that passes it through the higher ups and gets all the necessary checks. Golf alone sometimes has 30-40 tournaments in a school year, with a 1.5 inch binder that Jezek stores all the year’s paperwork in. Mostly, Jezek just follows Russell’s fully-mapped plan.

“I’ll see her all over the place, and you know, she wants to get to know the kids,” Jezek said. “She doesn’t treat the kids as just a number, and she doesn’t treat her job as just as job. She’s like family, and she definitely makes that something that we all feel throughout the whole school.”

On the seasonal side, Russell handles the textbooks and letterjackets, which phases in then out as the year progresses. Number one, though, Russell said she is a secretary for Byrd and Taylor, helping with mainly discipline and cross-checking that discipline with Skyward. 

“We keep it very professional in here, but the dynamic between us is like, friends but [also] coworkers,” Russell said. “We can lean on each other. Anything I’ve had to go through, they go through. We’re very open about it and nonjudgmental, very safe space up in here.”

It’s become, Russell said, a treasured work-friendship. One of their favorite “quotes” is too “boo everything.” It’s silly, Russell said, but they always end up completing the necessary task immediately afterwards, despite it.

“We are willing to do whatever it takes,” Russell said. “I just went through a big thing this year with my son and my family, and these two up in here, they held down the fort. Like when I got back, it was not crazy. It was not stressful, and I owe it all to them for taking care of [everything].”

When Russell was out, Byrd said he realized just how vital she was to the office.

“We would not be able to do what we do here without her,” Byrd said. “I was pretty much on the verge of going crazy, because it was just constant and it was a lot. Our building moves no matter what. There’s stuff going on all the time. Without her, it’s hardly functional up here, because of how important she is to us.”

Although it was during her time as the receptionist that Russell first fell in love with Clements, she has continued to stay—and return, day and day again—because of that enduring love. Outside of work, Russell enjoys swimming, running—though that has decreased with time—and reading, which she calls the best hobby that she could’ve ever taken up. 

“[I like] anything Sarah J. Maas, I know she’s so popular and whatever, but the truth is in the pudding,” Russell said. “Her writing is impeccable. I also read the ‘Red Rising’ series last year and that kind of altered my brain chemistry…if I could wipe my memory and do it again, I would totally do it again. But the last books will come up eventually. Hurry up, Pierce Brown. I’m waiting.”

Russell values her “get-ready” time, in particular, the in-between store or gym runs where she can bask in her alone time—especially since becoming a mother, which she considers her most rewarding challenge. 

“I always knew I was going to be a mom, even when I was a little kid,” Russell said. “And yeah, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Motherhood is also a lifelong contract. It’s a consistent challenge, not only to clothe and feed, but also to teach right from wrong.

“You gotta keep them alive, well, and actually teach them to be good human beings, not just simple black and white,” Russell said. “You are literally sculpting a human being that is going to be in the world, and that’s crazy. That’s just the ultimate goal, you want your kids to be good people.”

Beyond the usual toughness, Russell said she’s grateful that her pregnancy has been mostly “smooth, knock on wood.” Her daughter is due July 7th, the newest addition to her family of three.

“My husband and I have been together for three years,” Russell said. “We got together right after high school…What a unit we are. What we’ve been through in these 12 years together is not perfect by any means, but I have never loved someone so much in my life, and I wouldn’t want to do life with anybody else.”

Russell’s five-year-old son, her “rock star,” will start kindergarten in August. She plans to keep him in the district as he grows up.

“He’s the coolest kid,” Russell said. “He’s so strong. He went through a big thing this year, and he fought through it, and he made it, and he is amazing…And I can’t wait to have our daughter and [for] her to be a part of all the fun.”

A large portion of Russell’s life is characterized by her openness with love with both her family at home and her family at work.

“I love Clements,” Russell said. “I love my people. It’s not just up here [in the upstairs office], it’s everyone here. What a unit. What a family. I have never worked somewhere better in my life.”