The Altiora Peto Medal is awarded to a living Old Boy who best reflects the school’s motto Altiora Peto – I seek higher things – and who will serve as a role model to the current boys of the school. The award is made at the Founders Day assembly in May and the recipient is invited to address the boys.

The recipient of the Altiora Peto Award Dr John Wood was born on 31 March, 1944 in Kaikoura.

Dr John Wood attended Lincoln Country District High School from 1955-60 and Christchurch Boys’ High in the Upper Sixth in 1961 – alongside our former Head of Science Mr David Howarth.

He graduated from Canterbury University in 1966 with an MA (First Class Honours) in English, language and literature and subsequently studied politics, philosophy and economics at Balliol College, Oxford University graduating in 1968 with a BA(Hons) and later completing an MA(Hons) in 2006.

In 1969 he joined the New Zealand Department of External Affairs, Information and Cultural Affairs Division, at the start of what was to be a long career in government service, both in New Zealand and overseas.

His list of postings are extensive some of which are listed below:

• First Secretary, New Zealand Embassy, Tokyo
  
• First Secretary, later Counsellor and Consul-General, New Zealand Embassy, Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany, with concurrent accreditation to Switzerland
  
• Deputy Chief of Mission, some time as Charge d’Affaires, New Zealand Embassy, Washington D.C.
  
• Ambassador, New Zealand Embassy, Iran, with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador, later High Commissioner, to Pakistan
  
• In 1988 appointed New Zealand’s first Ambassador to Turkey.
  

Dr Wood also spent two terms as New Zealand Ambassador to the United States of America based in Washington D.C. from 1994-98 and 2002–2006.

In April 2006 he retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade after 37 years of service but this did not cause him to slow down.

His duties within New Zealand have included:

• International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, Right Hon. Robert Muldoon
  
• Heading several departments within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  
• Lead negotiator, New Zealand-Australia Social Security Treaty (2000-2001)
  
• Chair, Executive Committee in Special Session, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris
  
• Member, Canterbury Museum Trust Board
  
• Appointed Member, Lincoln University Council
  

For a period from May 2009, John was appointed as a Chief Crown Treaty Negotiator and was subsequently Chief Crown Negotiator for the Ngai Tuhoe; Whanganui River; Tongariro National Park and Ngati Rangi Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations. He is a member of the Te Urewera Governing Board.

Since November 2011 Dr Wood has been the elected Chancellor of the University of Canterbury.

Among the many honours he has received he was made a Paul Harris Fellow in 2005 by Rotary International for his “furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world” and being admitted to the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) by the University of Canterbury in 2006.

In the 2006 Queens Birthday Honours list, he was made a Companion of the Queens Service Order (QSO) for public service and in 2015 he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for service to Tertiary Education and Maori.

With a full life as a career diplomat, trade policy advisor, trade and treaty negotiator and educational leader, our recipient still finds time for his family and his interests which include literature, rare books, sport and V8 cars.