Adam Arno '26 has published a research article stemming from an undergraduate Outdoor Leadership and Education research project.
Adam Arno ’26, an alumni of the outdoor leadership and education major, has published a research article in the “Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education and Leadership.” This article stems from Arno’s undergraduate research project that combined an interest in comedy and humor with outdoor education.
The article is titled “Beyond Entertainment: Exploring Humor as a Response to Stress in Outdoor Education Programming” and examines the productive and unproductive uses of humor as a stress relief tool within outdoor education programming. Arno presented this research at the national Coalition for Education in the Outdoors research symposium in February 2026 and used feedback from that presentation to shape the subsequent research article.
Arno said that designing, conducting, presenting and publishing a research project has given him a more critical eye on his work and inspired him to keep learning and growing as a professional.
Evan Small, a faculty member in the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education, mentored Arno on this project and publication. Arno is currently an instructor at the Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Environmental Education Center, where he continues to explore how humor, facilitation skills and group community help participants to process their experiences in the natural world.