I hope this message finds you well. I am a registered Merit Badge Counselor and have greatly appreciated the tools provided through Scoutbook to help track and manage merit badge advancement for Scouts.
However, I would like to respectfully suggest a potential improvement that could significantly enhance the user experience for Merit Badge Counselors. Currently, adding a Scout to our Scoutbook connections requires coordination with unit leaders or the Scout’s family, and the process can often be time-consuming or confusing—especially when working with Scouts outside of our own troop.
I believe it would be extremely helpful if Scoutbook allowed Merit Badge Counselors to search for Scouts using basic, verifiable information such as the Scout’s first and last name, troop number, city, and state. This kind of search functionality—limited and protected to ensure privacy and proper usage—could make it much easier to initiate and track merit badge counseling relationships, especially during summer camps, district events, or multi-unit merit badge days where many Scouts are working with counselors outside their home troops.
Implementing this feature would not only improve the efficiency of the system but also ensure better tracking of advancement and communication between Scouts and counselors. I understand privacy and youth protection are critical, and I believe this could be done securely by limiting search access to registered and YPT-certified Merit Badge Counselors, perhaps with additional verification steps.
Thank you for considering this suggestion. I truly appreciate all that you do to support Scouting, and I am confident this kind of update could make a meaningful difference in how we support our Scouts on their advancement journey.
