LEADERSHIP: Chatsworth High’s student body president, 17-year-old...

LEADERSHIP: Chatsworth High’s student body president, 17-year-old Sal Maya, learned how to organize a public meeting on Wednesday. . . . Sal and his fellow LAUSD presidents persuaded their fellow students to air their views on school ethnic conflicts before a school board committee. “I spoke about the different programs at Chatsworth to improve relations,” Sal said. “Everyone was happy. We were being heard finally.”

UPS AND DOWNS: In a season filled with both stellar and lackluster performances, CSUN’s men’s volleyball reached a nadir not when they blew a playoff game but when they lost their regular season finale against Santa Barbara. . . . “I was thinking during the first game that I should be fired for having a team play like that,” said Matador Coach John Price (C11).

RISKY FUN? Whether the sport is football or rock climbing, above, children often put their parents between a pigskin and a hard place when they ask permission to play potentially dangerous sports. . . . But experts say providing kids with a physical outlet can be worth the ensuing parental jitters. The story is in today’s special Parenting section (Page 8). Other stories discuss the new chickenpox vaccine (Page 3) and “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” (Page 10).

OUT OF SEASON: A deer that its captors said came from Lancaster was discovered early Wednesday inside the trunk of a car in . . . Lynwood. A sheriff’s deputy first heard noises coming from the car’s trunk during a traffic stop. Inside was a wounded buck, shot in the throat and stripped of its antlers. Also inside: a rifle. . . . Now the four motorists could be charged with hunting deer out of season and using a spotlight to freeze it in its tracks, says the Department of Fish and Game. . . . The deer was taken to the Wildlife Waystation in Sunland, but it couldn’t be saved.