(Tom) This week on Arizona Illustrated, meet the happy residents of the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary.

(Mary) We feed and care for them, they get medical care, they have companions to live with.

(Tom) Learn how to keep your dog safe from a psychedelic toad.

(Jeff) It is a very attractive thing for a dog to focus on.

It bounces around erratically.

The dog just sees, "That's a toy, I want it."

(Tom) Marching towards success at Catalina Foothills High School.

(Renee) What's really gratifying about high school is they still have that same amount of energy.

It's really fun over four years to watch them become adults.

(Tom) And the youth-driven art space, Groundworks, has big aspirations.

(Luca) I don't think I ever would have built up the courage to go looking for a place to play live.

Hello and welcome to Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

First up, many in the industry say that journalism is under threat in our country, yet many young people are still driven to pursue this often difficult career.

Now, all of the stories in this show were produced for our show by students from right here at the University of Arizona School of Journalism.

This first story was produced by NCAA National Champion triathlete and excellent storyteller, Laura Halansky.

Since the 1980s, potbellied pigs have grown in popularity.

While they're cute, they can be a lot of work.

In fact, nearly half of new owners give up on them within the first year.

Enter the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary in Marana, whose goal is to eliminate the pig suffering and provide them a safe, permanent home.

♪ UPLIFTING MUSIC [ PIG SNORTS ] (Mary Schanz) What keeps me going is the happy pigs.

I just have to walk around and see them, and pet them along the way.

Hi, kids!

Horatio, Riley!

Come on, fratties!

Ed!

You know, here are all these boys, and... (laughs) You know.

So they have to have their own little frat house.

Here he comes.

Here comes Ed.

That's the frat kids, at least one of them.

You see, we don't, we don't party too much anymore, we just sleep.

My name is Mary Schantz, and uh...

I'm with the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary.

I'm one of the co-founders and president of the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary.

[ CARRIAGE ROLLING ] Our mission is to rescue abused and neglected or unwanted pigs, and to also work to control the populations by spaying and neutering.

People need to do their homework before they get a pig, and they need to have a proper place to keep them and to house them, and understand exactly what they are getting into.

Pigs are herd animals, and they really like the companionship of other pigs.

This is what we like.

Every morning I see them out here together on their bed, enjoying the sun.

They've become sweethearts.

We've been able to grow to about 680 pigs at this time, on site.

We really go out of our way to make it the best life they can have.

This is Assisted Living, A.L.

And this is one of our big boys.

He's one of our stars of this field.

This is Andre.

He's been around a while, Hi, Andre.

He's had multiple surgeries, He's been neutered.

He's had two tummy tucks.

He's had three eye adjustments Because he was so fat when he came in, he could barely function.

And you can see, he's lost a lot of weight.

He's pretty saggy.

This is Bella.

She lived in a horrible, filthy room and had these feet so twisted around she couldn't begin to walk.

Hi, honey.

[ BELLA SNORTS ] ♪ PEACEFUL MUSIC We feed and care for them, they get medical care.

They have companions to live with, they have blankets, and in the summer, wallows and swimming pools.

This is Bubbles.

He's blind.

Tomahawk!

Come here, honey.

You gonna wake up?

Yeah, I know.

Here, I'll give you a cookie.

He was found down the south side of town.

He was in horrible condition.

He had been beat up multiple times by dogs.

And you see his ears are gone.

And he was very lame.

He has a deformed front leg He's totally recovered, as you see.

And he's so sweet.

He's been so mistreated.

He's really one of our success stories for sure.

It would be a lot easier if we just combined everybody But there's pigs of different capacities.

[ PIG SNORTS ] We have to try to separate them according to their health and their condition and their age and all that kind of thing.

So we've ended up with 29 fields.

And they all have bowls with their names on them.

And their foods are prepared here and meds are put in and water.

We put the meds in peanut butter sandwiches.

So there's a lot of peanut butter used here.

And a lot of bread.

We also use fig Newtons.

And sometimes we even go so far as to use like a Twinkie or a strawberry roll.

They eat a variety of foods.

We have 300 mashes that we make for the pigs.

It's grain.

And then we add pumpkin and bran.

[ MUNCHING ] (Lisa Lang) We fund everything 99% donation based.

Our donors are wonderful.

They're there for us all the time.

It's true.

We would not be here without our donors.

It makes it happen.

Makes it happen.

And then we came up with the idea last year to start a Painting with Pigs event.

(paint instructor) So really excited to have you all here.

This is our fifth time painting with pigs.

(Mary) It brings people out, it's a fun thing to do, it lets people meet some of the pigs because we have pigs running out all day while the are here.

(participant) We painted pigs.

So I literally found it yesterday And we were going to hang out anyway because we're best friends.

We have matching tattoos.

We do.

And I heard there's going to be another pig friend coming to join us pretty soon.

I like Star Wars, so I I decided since we were doing a night sky thing I would make a Death Star into it and then I'd make my pig some sort of Star Wars theme.

Darth Bacon.

Please don't sue me Disney!

[ LAUGHTER ] And there's a tour after.

Yeah.

So we get to go pet pigs.

Yeah, we're excited.

Tell us when to smile.

Alright, everyone ready?

In three, two, one.

Yay!

Amazing.

The Sonoran Desert Toad has seen more interest recently due to the psychedelic DMT contained within its poison.

However, these toads pose a grave threat to dogs.

Enter a program started by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona and Animal Experts Incorporated to protect the dogs, their owners, and the toads.

Thanks to former intern Reed Lofstedt for producing this story for us.

♪ CURIOUS MUSIC (Chelsea) The easiest ways to identify the Sonoran Toads is by being a dark olive green color.

They can sometimes have orange spots on their back.

They also have a small white dimple on each corner of their cheek.

The poison actually comes out of their glands, which are located on the back of their neck and the back of their legs.

But the training is best done before the dog ever gets a toad in the first place, because the dogs tend to get addicted to the drug high of the toads.

So once they get them for the first time, they tend to go back at them harder even again afterwards.

Some dogs may even dig up the toads intentionally to get to them.

♪ CURIOUS MUSIC All right, so right over here, we're gonna have a little container.

It's got a couple of toads in it and some nasty water So we're gonna get that scent.

So walk Luca up to that, let him go up and look at it, smell it, and then we'll see how he reacts to the collar.

Typically, it's a scent station first, dogs go up and smell that.

That's where I can gauge what level the shock needs to be at.

Good boy, praise him, praise him, praise him.

Good boy, Luca, good boy.

Some dogs is higher, some dogs is lower.

Always start low, and if it works, they're moving away.

We'll go back to it.

Usually by then, the dogs are saying I don't wanna go, and then we'll bring out a couple toads, let them hop around, see if any dogs really show interest.

Sometimes they do, as you guys saw.

We'll do that a couple times, and at the very end, we're usually offering a toad to the dog, and they're usually trying to run away.

(Lee) Good boy, good boy, Kaiser.

(Ana) You some come in pretty confident and then come out a little bit, learning their lesson from interacting with the animals.

Yeah, you either get your confident dogs, your really scared dogs who come in.

I give them a pup cup, or just whipped cream afterwards, to try to give them one positive experience.

Yeah, some will eat it, some have to eat it in the car, because they're so nervous in that space.

(Jeff) It is a very attractive thing for a dog to focus on.

It bounces around erratically, which attracts the dog's attention.

They run over, they grab hold of it, and at that point, that's what causes the toad to secrete the toxin.

It's not on them all the time.

They secrete that when they are stressed out.

And of course, there's nothing quite as stressful to a toad as being inside a dog's mouth.

The dog just sees, that's a toy, I want it.

If the dog spits it out, then that's one thing.

It's a minimal exposure, which you can treat.

You rinse the dog's mouth out from side to side, wipe it out, because it will continue to just get this gooey saliva slime in there.

It's kinda nasty.

If you've got a dog, whether he's been trained or not, you really should focus on checking your yard, making sure that everything is good.

I had a guy today, said he came home from a week away and had 50 toads in his swimming pool.

I've never seen 50 toads in one spot, but he swore that he counted them.

There were 50 toads in his swimming pool.

It saves lives.

So even if you're not seeing them, you never know when you could, right?

You live in the desert, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

(Lee) If you're in an area where it is a potential harmful thing for your dog, definitely look into the training.

You never know if they're gonna be there or not.

Since 1992, when she had only 17 students, Renee Shane-Boyd has led the Catalina Foothills Falcon Band to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Rose Bowl performances, and countless awards.

In fact, her program has grown to become the largest marching band in the state.

This story was produced by UA alum and budding journalism star, Noor Haghighi.

(Annoncer) Are the judges ready?

Drum majors Bryan Zhang, Shelby Giachetti, Dominic Bell and Sara Nielsen is your band ready?

AZMBA is proud to present the Catalina Foothills High School Marching Band!

♪ MARCHING BAND MUSIC Doing anything with a group of people and striving to do it well and understanding the responsibilities that you have as a member of that type of ensemble, whether it's a band or an orchestra or a choir, it's um that's what is transformational for you and learning to literally put your best foot forward and make it better for others while you're making it better for yourself.

And right now I'm having to deal with people who can't stand at stand-by.

Would you like me to just work on behavior or would you like our show to get better?

Then you need to do your job.

This year, Ms. Shane's yelled at me a lot more, but I thought it would be scary when she yelled at me, but after every rehearsal she tells me it's not because she's mad at me, it's just because that's how she explains things.

I'm like, it's a little less scary now.

(Renee) A point of honor with me is that I can always keep up with the high school students.

They usually wear down before I do.

Um and if I say, "get moving," or "I'm going to chase you around the field," I mostly still can do that.

When I first came to the district in 1983, there were two elementary schools and a junior high in the district.

By 1992, we had our first freshman class and we were on the campus of Esperero Canyon Middle School.

And we had 17 students in our first group.

Some of those kids and ones right in the classes after them, their children are in the program here now.

♪ XYLOPHONES DING ♪ PERCUSSION RUMBLES (Renee) We have three things that we call non-negotiable.

We say that we'll work respectfully, we'll work positively, and we'll work efficiently.

So, for instance, we always have a plan for the week, for the month, for the season, for the year.

We always say, rain or shine, it's till nine, so if we get rained out like we do in marching season we don't stay out there if there's lightning.

We do come in, but we continue working because we have-there's both music and and visual goals we can work on.

(Interviewer) Has marching band changed your life?

Um yeah I think so, there's been a ton of cool experiences I've been able to have.

It's just a group of people who all have the same goal and are willing to work hard to make that goal happen.

And it's a really positive community.

We've built a culture that's lasted for decades that it's just a positive space for people.

♪ UPBEAT HORNS PLAY (Renee) The thing that keeps me involved and drives me to uh continue working is the students.

They are very motivational.

I learn things from them.

I taught junior high and middle school for ten years, and I loved them.

They had a lot of energy.

What's really gratifying about high school is they still have that same amount of energy.

It's just organized a little differently.

And but it's really fun over four years to watch them become adults and develop their decision-making process and their maturity.

And oftentimes when I'm working outside the school or I'm volunteering and we're looking for a staff I-I think back about my students and I think "Oh wow, that person could do this job."

Because you see the skills they develop through this.

- (Matthew) Alright, inner circle, you're gonna do the same thing.

It's just up, up, breathe, breathe, play.

Can we do that?

(Matthew) I am a Foothills alumni.

I graduated in '21 And I am a brass and marching instructor here.

Alright, everyone, all together!

I think it's very important that I came back to the band and gave back something that gave so much to me.

When I first started in the band, I was really intimidated because I played oboe and I didn't really have an instrument for a marching band.

But I switched to mellophone and I learned a brand new instrument and the biggest take away from that, was that it was just so welcoming and I felt like everyone just, everyone wanted to get better and everyone wanted to see me get better at my instrument.

Because you're playing moving lines, because of the range of the instrument you guys are playing, the lines will stick out.

You have to support it, but you can't overpower all the sound with the with what you guys are doing, okay?

(Nathan) The seniors that I saw graduate were pretty good section leaders and I wanted to fill that role.

So I just stepped up to it and tried out and made it.

I think being a section leader is kind of like being like a parent sort of and it's kind of a cool thing to see like all your friends and stuff supporting you and being part of one huge project.

♪ LONE TRUMPET PLAYS ♪ ♪ SWEEPING TRUMPET WITH CHIMES PLAY ♪ I treat it as like as a second family.

It's definitely a huge part of my life.

It's really fun to see like the band go to unexpected places.

Now I'm pretty sure I'm going to minor in music too, in college, along with my engineering major.

♪ TRUMPET FADES [ APPLAUSE ] (Ian) Throughout the season, the goal is always what can we improve upon this week and how much better can we get this week?

So we've gotten some really good feedback from judges the last few weeks of our competitions on just how we can refine the show that much more.

(Renee) U of A Band Day is one of the band festivals that we participate in during the year.

It's the biggest band festival that we participate in.

It's held at the University of Arizona This year there are 47 bands.

(Eric) I'm really excited.

This show is really fun to like both march and play through.

I think we have a really good chance of like performing really high this year.

(Renee) It's always fun to go into Arizona Stadium for Band Day and as the band comes on the field, the drumline captain clicks.

And the echo you get throughout the stadium is always very inspiring and looking at the audience.

And I think we've learned to enjoy the moment and not be as nervous about it anymore.

♪ DRAMATIC BAND MUSIC STARTS ♪ The most gratifying thing isn't when they The most gratifying thing isn't when they announce, "You've won first place," or, "You've won a superior," "You've won an excellent."

or, "You've won a superior," "You've won an excellent."

Those usually kind of feel relief, you know, because you know that motivates the kids.

(Announcer) First place score with a total of 86.413 is Catalina Foothills High School.

[ CROWD CHEERS ] (Renee) There are times like at band camp when you see how hard they're working or you see them enjoying an activity with other kids that you really are the proudest of what they're doing.

It's exciting and fun to be in those places where we've performed and the music itself is very gratifying, but the experience with them is really what keeps me moving forward.

♪ MARCHING BAND MUSIC SWELLS AND FADES ♪ Groundworks is a youth-oriented music and art space that fosters community and creativity for people from all walks of life and all levels of experience.

Next, we see how it got its start and how it can feel like landing on the moon.

Ana Teresa Espinoza produced this story.

She was also the recipient of a 2024 SBS Tenacity Award that recognizes a graduating senior from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences who has persevered in the face of significant adversity to earn their degree.

(Luca) A lot of it is sort of like magical and we don't quite know how it came together.

(Rowan) Most every wall we have paintings and murals.

It's just a space where all the creativity in Tucson kind of gets stored.

♪ PUNK ROCK MUSIC (Logan) Groundworks is a nonprofit that I helped start back in 2019.

Our mission is promoting the youth driven music and arts community here in Tucson.

We create a art space for youth, typically ages 14 to 24, to experience the arts, explore the arts, perform, put their art on display, and learn more about their community.

There isn't anything like that for young people in Tucson.

♪ PIANO MUSIC (Rowan) Even if a bar or any other 21 plus venue has an all ages night or one all ages show, it's still off putting and stiff to the younger people.

He's 16, I'm 18.

We're not old enough to drink.

We're not going to bars.

We can't play at bars really.

Our audience would disappear and it's awesome [LAUGHS] it's awesome to have spaces like this that allow us to actually play shows.

I love playing shows.

Playing shows is so fun by the way.

-(Both) Play a show.

-You should play a show.

-It's quite good.

Even if you don't play an instrument, play a show.

-Play a show here.

We'll most likely say yes.

(Logan) DIY, do it yourself is part of this punk ethos and a lot of influence from 90s culture.

So we really try to be a space that people feel comfortable dropping off their kids, that they can be safe here.

But we also try to be a space that allows for a lot of expression and creativity.

It's tough to ride that line sometimes, but like best of both worlds is really what we're going for.

We don't have access to donors who can make up the difference in our rent.

So doing it DIY is part of just how we have to do it.

We had a lot of bands and people asking us for, "Hey, we want to play Groundworks for the first time."

And we are a great venue to do that.

And it kind of made us realize that, oh, we could just do a whole event around performing here for the first time.

We call it 'The First Show' show.

(Rowan) I played a First Show show.

Tons of people that I know played First Show shows and went on to become really important in the scene.

(Logan) And every single one we've done has been like a resounding success.

Luca and Rowan are two people who are kind of a case study for Groundworks in that they were both in high school and very young when they started performing here.

♪ SINGING (Luca) We were like patient zero for Groundworks.

The first success story, so to speak.

-He said that?

-Well, this is how I'm wording it.

-Okay.

-I'm wording it like we were the first success story.

I don't think I ever would have built up the courage to go looking for a place to play live.

I don't think I ever even thought of playing a live set before Logan asked me to play at Camp Groundworks that first year.

♪ ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC Camp Groundworks is the yearly fundraiser for Groundworks.

It happens around the end of summer each year.

-Camp Groundworks everybody!

We made it, we're here!

(Luca) Where we get usually two to three day lineup of a bunch of bands just celebrate the music scene while raising money to keep Groundworks afloat.

♪ GOTH ROCK MUSIC -Just feeling good.

Feeling the vibes Feeling the good vibes going around.

We just heard from- [AUDIO FADES] ♪ ART-PUNK MUSIC (Luca) This year we raised a little over $20,000, which is fantastic, which helps it feel like a big old holiday.

-[SHOUTING]: Everybody!

Twenty thousand dollars!

-It's like the moon landing.

It's like your in mission control during the moon landing is kind of the energy.

-Yeah.

(Logan) We're starting with personal projects, some of the volunteers, and then we're expanding to the broader community, the public at large, to have access to a recording studio for ideally a lot cheaper than you would a professional studio, something like that.

So it's more accessible.

♪ DRUM BEAT (Luca) When we started, there was not a recording studio.

We just had a space to store instruments.

It's a real DIY recording studio that we built with our own hands.

I mean, this is cool.

-How does that sound?

(Luca) I can't- I don't think I can.

I probably can't walk into a Best Buy and say, I'm gonna work this register.

You go take a break.

-Yeah.

-At Groundworks, you can do that.

(Rowan) We all want to be here.

It's badly enough that we're taking time off work or taking time away from our families.

(Logan) We just kind of do what we can.

If- you know, we metaphorically have little fires going on all the time.

We put out the biggest ones first and then work our way towards the smaller ones.

May never be totally fire free.

In a metaphorical sense, there are zero actual fires here at Groundworks.

Fingers crossed.

(Rowan) Every show is a victory for me.

(Luca) It's so difficult to start something like this, like Groundworks, and have it work.

And to have it work so much that you raise $20,000 is like unbelievable.

It's like the moon landing.

[ APPLAUSE ] Thank you for joining us for Arizona Illustrated from here at the University of Arizona School of Journalism.

I'm Tom McNamara.

We'll see you again next week.