A nonprofit organization is giving students a positive incentive to face the music by performing community service.

The 10,000 Hours Show encourages young people to get out and volunteer in their community, which will allow them to rock out at a free concert.

The project originally started in 2002 through two University of Iowa students, Mike Brooks and Jacek Pruski.

The first concert was held in 2004.

“They were eating lunch one day over sweet and sour chicken talking about volunteering and music,” said Rachel Mullen, the executive director of outreach for the 10K show and senior in English.

“They claim they had the idea at the same time, to put on a concert for volunteers for free.”

The volunteer work that can be credited toward a ticket for the show includes a variety of services.

“I’ve done all sorts of things, from volunteering with RAGBRAI to tutoring little kids,” said Matthew Mead, executive director of business for the 10K show and junior in chemistry.

He said he heard about the organization from a class presentation in his sophomore year and thought it sounded like a great opportunity.

“I fell in love with the project,” Mead said. “And what everyone was doing,”

“I thought I should be a part of it.”

Although the show has only been off the ground for a few years they have already made statewide expansion, Mullen said.

The project has grown so much over the past year that the group was forced to break Iowa into two regions and hold two concerts, she said.

The way the band is chosen is simple – it begins with a list of staff suggestions and then the list is narrowed down to bands within a certain price range that also fit the goals of the organization, she said.

There is going to be an announcement celebration for the band on Thursday at the Maintenance Shop in the Memorial Union.