On Oct. 28, Max Huber, Community Relations Manager of news station WCCO, visited HHS to obtain signatures to support America’s troops and veterans.

Through More Than Names, an Accomplish Minnesota campaign, Huber seeks to honor military members and their families. Huber hopes to break the current world record of 115,405 signatures by Veterans Day. On the holiday, WCCO will present soldiers and veterans with a flag full of signatures from HHS students and other schools.

“[Troops and veterans] don’t get enough ‘thank you’s’ for all that they do,” Huber said. “They literally put their lives on the line all the time, so we decided a record-sized thank you would be a good idea.”

The idea originated over the summer when WCCO was coming up with ideas for a State Fair booth theme. The idea grew, and Huber and his boss ultimately decided to continue the idea in local schools.

“When we present this final 102-foot by 76-foot flag to them on Veteran’s Day, it’s going to be very emotional for us, and it’s going to be very emotional for them,” Huber said. “It’s just our small way to say thank you.”

Huber and the WCCO team have traveled to many schools to acquire signatures, and now they have arrived at HHS.

“We reached out to [HHS] because we knew [HHS] had a good population, and it seemed like a school that might really want to get behind this,” Huber said. “We’ve been to a few other schools, and we’ve had good responses and some bad responses, but the [HHS] administration got right on board.”

Besides signing the flag, Huber believes a simple verbal ‘thank you’ to a soldier or veteran is just as powerful.

“I’ve talked to so many different veterans and active duty men and women, and the heart felt ‘thank you’ means so much more to them than you know,” Huber said.

For more information on the More Than Names campaign, students can visit their website at http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/names/.