There are several approaches a person can take when landing upon uncharted waters.
There is, of course, the option to turn around and go back to the original source point without ever getting wet.
There is also the cautious method of dipping a few toes in first to test the unfamiliar waves.
And then, there is the way George Washington University alumna and former softball standout Riley Tejcek, B.A. ’19, interacts with a newly discovered body of water: cannonballing straight through its surface.
There was the time in fall 2015 when, at age 18 and just a month into her first year studying political science at GW, she committed to joining the United States Marine Corps despite no prior military aspirations. Today, she is an active-duty captain who was named “Ms. Military” in 2024, the same year she served a seven-month deployment in Iraq. She also earned the prestigious Female Marine Corps Athlete of the Year in 2022.
There was also the time in early 2020 when, after Commencement and stationed at nearby Quantico, Virginia, she decided to try bobsledding and skeleton. In short order, Tejcek became a pilot for Team USA and landed on the cusp of qualifying for the Winter Olympic Games before retiring from the sport.
Or also the time in 2023, when she started to author a children’s book, appropriately called “If You Can Dream It, Be It,” despite no formal creative writing training. The book, published in 2025, is based on her own life and teaches young readers how to break barriers. It gained widespread national attention this past May when Second Lady Usha Vance selected it for a reading event promoting child literacy.
“This is a credit to my parents in that they let me fail as a young kid,” Tejcek said. “And so, we adapted this mindset of extreme ownership and taking on hard things.”
This week, Tejcek will have a global audience to see her take her latest dive into the deep end.
She and her mother, Ann-Marie, teamed up to compete in season 39 of “The Amazing Race,” which premieres at 9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday on CBS.
Some people—OK, most people—are content with just watching their favorite shows. Tejcek was determined to be a part of hers.
“I remember from a younger age being able to watch [“The Amazing Race”] with my parents, especially when my mom was in a global role at her job where she was traveling,” said Tejcek, a Carmel, Indiana, native. “We never got to go with her, but we actually got to see some of the places my mom got to travel to through the show. So, we kind of felt like we were able to be these little travelers with mom when we were able to watch it.”
“But ultimately,” she said, “we’re a house of competitors.”
And competitors don’t sit on the couch when there’s a quest to conquer.
The show is an adventure reality competition where teams of two race around the world to win a $1 million grand prize. Racers complete mental and physical tasks that often feature local culture, history or traditions. It is a grueling three-week endeavor.
Oh, and of course she and her mother decided to apply for the show in 2024, when they were skydiving in Dubai right after Tejcek’s deployment. And of course, she took her first casting call a few weeks later while on a bobsled track in Whistler, Canada, between training runs.
Filming for season 39 took place between Sept. 22 and Oct. 17, 2025. The first episode on Wednesday is set in Vancouver. But for someone of Tejcek’s nature, where toughness is woven in her DNA, it was a perfect next challenge.
Viewers won’t know how Tejcek fared until showtime, but what they will see throughout the season are some of the skills she built both on the diamond, where as a senior in 2019 she helped lead the softball program to its first-ever Atlantic 10 title, and off it at GW.
Aside from the physical fitness needed to be a Division I student-athlete, Tejcek showed a perseverance that has since paid dividends. She battled through injury during her four-year softball career at GW but was tenacious in her recovery and eventually set a career-high in runs scored during her team’s championship run in 2019. The toughness needed to compete in something as demanding as “The Amazing Race” was evident early on.
“Some kids will use [an injury] and then just sort of go in a different direction, and she didn’t,” recalled Associate Athletic Director of Compliance Chandra Bierwirth, who was the softball team’s administrator that season.
But the race also asks competitors to navigate unfamiliar cities, solve clues and puzzles, communicate across language and cultural barriers, make strategic decisions, complete memory or knowledge-based tasks and interact with locals to find information or accomplish specific objectives. And for the first time in the show’s history, all teams got an “Express Pass” for free, which lets them skip any single detour, roadblock or standard task of their choice to get to the next clue immediately, adding another strategic wrinkle.
Tejcek credits GW—where she studied Russian for three years—with helping her become a well-rounded global citizen and problem solver, vital tools in the arsenal for “Amazing Race” competitors.
“GW forced me, in the best way possible, when I was 18 to 22 years old, to mature, to grow quickly, to learn how to live in the city, to be able to communicate with people of other cultures and to ultimately challenge [myself] from an academic standpoint,” said Tejcek, who completed the Marine Corps Leadership program while at GW that culminated in her commissioning in a ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial.
Whether it’s as an athlete, Marine, children’s author or—now—television star, Tejcek is acutely aware of and embraces the visibility that comes with the hats she wears. She has built her career in the Marine Corps, where women account for roughly 10% of its total force. She came oh so close to being the first female Marine to ever make the Olympics. Tejcek hopes that somewhere out there is a little girl who sees herself in her story and is inspired to imagine a similar path for herself.
Rooted in faith and determined to break barriers, Tejcek never needs to find motivation to give whatever she is doing all she’s got.
“Everything I do also traces back to wanting to make an impact, wanting to leave this world better than I found it and ultimately love, support and uplift other people,” Tejcek said.
As the first “Amazing Race” episode is set to air, she has three rules to offer viewers whenever they are standing on unfamiliar shores pondering whether to plunge.
One, a person should never disqualify themselves from something. Two, they should allow themselves room to be bold but also vulnerable when they do pursue their ambitions. And three, when a door closes, they should be prepared to pivot and look for another opening.
“Put yourself out there,” Tejcek said. “Because you have no idea what's in store.”
