Our Director - Chris Day

Christine Day, Ad Astra Harmony Chorus Director, began directing our chorus under its prior name 

of Flint Hills Harmony Chorus in August, 2019. She has been a member of our chorus since shortly 

after she retired from teaching. 

Chris has a multi-faceted history in several genres of music, including barbershop. 

Ad Astra Harmony Chorus is fortunate and excited to have her as our director!

Chris retired eight years ago from a 42-year career in elementary music education. She received 

her music degree from Iowa State University and proceeded to immerse herself in “all things music.”

Not only was Chris a member many years ago of our chorus, then known as the Wamego Dutch Mill 

Chorus, she has also been in numerous independent quartets and music groups, including

Prairie Larkspur, Jonathan Griffith Singers, Prairie Rose Quartet, and Prairie Wind Trio.

During her elementary school teaching career, Chris taught music for her first five years in Iowa

and then spent the majority of her career in Wamego and Junction City, KS. Augmenting her 

advocacy of children and music, in the 1990s, Chris launched the Kansas Music Educators 

Association North Central Elementary Honor Choir.

Children and singing groups have not been Chris’s only musical outlet. For 38 years, she has also 

directed the Chancel Choir at the United Methodist Church in Wamego, has directed the church’s 

Bell Choir for 18 years, and has directed the Flint Hills Messiah Chorus, a regional production open 

to area singers, for over 30 years. On top of all that, Chris teaches private music lessons.

Chris has advocated for children along other pathways also. She is a charter member of the Santa 

Fe Trail Association, for which she is the current board’s vice president. Since 1985, she has co-

directed bi-annual Santa Fe Trail youth trips. On those journeys, Chris and a friend, also a teacher 

who recently retired, accompany busloads of children on a summertime multi-day trip along the 

Santa Fe Trail, teaching trail history as they travel.

Throughout her career, Chris has been the recipient of numerous awards recognizing her 

dedication. She is a two-time winner of the “Outstanding Elementary Music Teacher’ for the North 

Central District of the Kansas Music Educators Association, received the Educational Teacher 

Award and the Paul Bentrup Ambassador Award from the Santa Fe Trail Association, the Huck 

Boyd “Leader of the Year” award to recognize her work with the Santa Fe Trail education trips with 

students, the Geary County “Shining Star” award, and the Fort Larned Old Guard David K. 

Clapsaddle Memorial Education Award. She has also received an Award of Merit from the 

Santa Fe Trail Association for her recognition in helping to co-author four Junior Wagon Master 

Booklets, which are activities relating to the 1200 mile trek of the Santa Fe Trail for pre-school 

students through adults.

Chris’s family includes her husband, Tom, two children, Meghann and Josh, both in California, and 

her beloved grandchild, Bella, also in California.