I spent this summer in the office of Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO). My administrative tasks included answering constituent phone calls, sorting mail, and writing letters back to constituents. Much of my time was spent writing memos to staffers on hearings, briefings, and legislative markups; these topics were on anything from federal authority over groundwater, hydrogen pipelines and carbon capture technologies, the Arctic as it relates to economic and national security, and global food insecurity resulting from both climate pressures and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, I had a few longer-term summer projects: I profiled all the Indo-Pacific countries' climate vulnerabilities and action plans, and analyzed the major Supreme Court reforms currently being discussed. Overall, experiencing how Congress has responded (or has failed to respond) to defining issues this summer — the Uvalde school shooting, overturning Roe, record inflation — has deepened my understanding of contemporary politics, which I hope to continue exploring.