Tom Street graduated from Bald Knob High School where he studied under Don Davis, one of the founding members of the ArkCDA, and was a member of the first all state choir to be sponsored by the ArkCDA in 1968.  He enrolled at ASU as a vocal music major, studying under Alfred Skoog, who is widely acknowledged to be the founding father of the ArkCDA. 

 

Upon graduation from ASU, Tom began his teaching career in 1973 at Harrison High School. During his thirty-year tenure at HHS the Concert Choir distinguished itself by winning competitions in Nashville and St. Louis, and earning top scores at festivals in Mexico, Canada, Chicago, and Washington D.C. In 1984 the choir was one of two high school choirs selected to perform at the national MENC convention in Chicago. The choir performed at the second inauguration of President Bill Clinton and conducted six concert tours in New York City, performing at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, and the United Nations among other venues. In the spring of 2012 the choir had the honor of performing in St. Paul’s Chapel, which survived the attack of September 11, and was still being used as a treatment center and haven for workers on the site.

 

His service to ArkCDA began in 1976 when he was elected chairman of what was then the Northwest Region. Following that two-year term he filled a vacancy as all state chair. From there he entered the six-year commitment as president-elect, president, and past president. 

 

In 1986 he was employed part time as the ArkCDA executive secretary. It was in this position that he oversaw the implementation of computers and the internet in ArkCDA operations. He wrote the computer code that allowed for all region and state tryouts to be tallied by computer as opposed to by hand for over 20 years. 

 

Tom registered the domain arkcda.org and published the original ArkCDA website. To improve communication, he established electronic mailing lists for each region to serve as an efficient and effective means of communication. These two actions not only made for more efficient communication but resulted in significant financial savings to the organization.

 

Tom retired from teaching in 2003 and was employed full time as the ArkCDA Executive Director. He retired from that position in 2019. As a voting or non-voting member, he served on the ArkCDA Executive Board for 43 years.

 

He was named the ArkCDA Director of the Year in 1982 and Distinguished Director in 2003. In 2001 he was named to the Arkansas Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. In 2002 the National Federation of State High School Associations named him the Outstanding Music Educator in Arkansas and in 2003 named him the Outstanding Music Educator in Section 6 which consists of Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.