Animal biology major Amber Parle, selected the student commencement speaker for the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences' afternoon ceremony on Sunday, is not your usual graduate.

In 2011 Parle completed her first full marathon, only a year and two weeks after being hit by a car while walking in downtown Davis. And, beginning this fall, she will "follow her dream" by traveling the world for 10 years.

After being hit by a car, "I realized that life is too fragile to let dreams slip away, and so I decided that after college I would travel the world -- spending a year in each country for a total of ten years," she said.

Parle will speak at the 2 p.m. commencement in the Activities and Recreation Center Pavilion, where the College of Ag will confer degrees to students from 21 departments, including animal biology and entomology.

The other College of Ag commencement ceremony starts at 9 a.m. at the same site, and encompasses the other nine departments, including plant sciences and environmental horticulture and forestry.

Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey serves as the master advisor of the animal biology program, which includes some 350 students. "Amber has a first-rate mind," he said, "and she led her study group."

Parle, born and reared in Southern California, is a 2008 graduate of Big Bear High School, Big Bear City, San Bernardino County. The valedictorian of her class, she was one of seven students, countywide, selected

Parle enrolled at UC Davis immediately after high school. During her time at UC Davis she explored several interests including painting, acting, drawing, photography, fitness, writing, and singing. She is currently working on her first novel and a collection of poems -- both of which she hopes to get published soon.

Parle will be leaving for South Korea in fall of 2012, where she has a yearlong contract to teach English.

After that "I will go wherever my heart takes me," she said.

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Amber Parle not your typical UCDavis grad