National Appointment and Leadership Commendation Appointment
“Receiving a National Appointment or a Leadership Commendation Appointment is not something for which a patroller-volunteer or paid-can work or plan. A patroller does not apply for a National Appointment or Leadership Commendation Appointment or undergo a skills and knowledge evaluation. To obtain this classification, a patroller must be nominated by other patrollers who hold the same appointment for demonstrating exemplary service to the NSP.
A patroller with a National Appointment or Leadership Commendation Appointment is an individual who has demonstrated leadership, good character, diplomacy, a positive attitude, good judgment, unusual qualities of patrolling ability, a genuine desire to serve the skiing public, and extraordinary service to the National Ski Patrol.
Great care is taken to consider the nominations of only those patrollers who have met all the award criteria. An individual who receives a National Appointment or Leadership Commendation Appointment usually has served as an officer or advisor of the NSP and in the discharge of those duties has exemplified the qualities that typify the characteristics of these appointments.
The appointments should be overdue rather than premature, but tenure is never an adequate criterion. Patrollers with appointments are expected to continue to serve the NSP with exemplary service representing themselves to the skiing public as selected goodwill ambassadors of the organization. A patroller with a National Appointment or Leadership Commendation Appointment may actively participate in the nomination procedure for other National and Leadership Commendation appointments.
These appointments are for life; however if a patroller with an appointment discredits the honor of the NSP, the appointment will be revoked and the individual will be asked to relinquish the award’s insignia.”