Humans of Kellogg: Keanan Crasto (2Y '27): The JV Who is Basically Doing Kellogg Twice

By: Siddhaarth Sudhakaran, Staff Writer 

Keanu Reeves, Steve Irwin, Mister Rogers, Dolly Parton. In the short list of universally adored humans, I’m convinced Vahishta Dumasia (2Y ’26) deserves an honorary spot. She’s loved by everyone who knows her, a total force on stage in Special K!, and has a smile that can brighten an entire section. (Full disclosure: she’s also part of my Poets pod. Lucky me!) 

During Kellogg’s famous crucible moments last year, I distinctly remember her sharing a story about an Indian mountain trek with her JV and how deeply he had shaped her. It was moving in a way that stayed with me long after. So when I heard that her JV, Keanan Castro, was joining us as a Kellogg student this year, it felt inevitable that I’d hunt him down for an interview. 

The Trek That Started It All 

I decided to start by asking him about that famous mountain trek, reminiscing about the story that nurtured my hope about true love—the one Vahishta spoke about so fondly. Keanan laughed and immediately admitted, “We are not trekkers. Not at all. We just randomly decided to do a medium difficulty trek.” 

“Medium difficulty,” it turns out, comes with a pre-req: to even be allowed on the trip, the trekking company required participants to prove they could run 5 km in 30 minutes, five separate times—and they needed to send in the Strava/Nike screenshots. 

Keanan (2Y '27—left); Vahishta (2Y '26—right) hiking Chandrashila

“Neither of us could do that at the time,” he said. “So we trained for months. We ran together, bought gear together, figured everything out as a team.” 

Then came the actual trek: a week in the wilderness, no people around, just a small group climbing steadily upward. The final ascent was the brutal one: wake up at 2:00 a.m., step out into -10 to -12°C windchill, and climb in pitch darkness for three hours to reach the summit in time for sunrise. 

“There were definitely points where I wanted to give up,” Keanan says. “And she’d be like, ‘No, you gotta do this.’ Then later she’d feel like giving up, and I’d be the one pushing. It was a lot of just trading off who was holding the other up.” 

They reached the top just before sunrise. Chandrashila is the highest peak in that area, so you look down on a whole ring of mountains as the sky slowly turns pink and gold. “In our group, like five to seven people just got there and started crying like babies,” he says. “Grown men, just bawling. It was that kind of moment.” 

If you ever wonder why Vahishta chose that story as her “Crucible Moment” at Kellogg, now you know. 

From EY Associates to “Partners” 

The origin story, like so many Indian finance-adjacent origin stories, starts with… CA articleship. Both Keanan and Vahishta were pursuing the Chartered Accountancy route in India: two exam levels, then a three-year apprenticeship. They joined EY-Parthenon as interns and were flown to Delhi for a one-week national intern retreat. 

They were friends for about five years. The shift from “good friends” to “something more” came courtesy of a brutal client project in the U.S. which included 16-18 hour days for weeks on end. 

“In India, even on stressful projects, you still have your friends and family to vent to,” he explains. “In the U.S., on different time zones, you can’t always call at the end of the day. So we ended up leaning on each other a lot.” That intensity, plus being far from home, pulled them close. Eventually, they started dating. 

MBA x 2: Same Story, Staggered Timeline

I quizzed him on whether they planned to do the MBA together. He responded that Vahishta always knew she wanted an MBA in the U.S. and felt a strong pull toward Kellogg early on. Keanan, by contrast, wasn’t initially obsessed with the idea of an MBA. 

“I didn’t have a strong opinion at the start,” he says. But as Vahishta began the GMAT and application grind, he went through it with her—emotionally, at least. 

In his own words, he watched her “crush the GMAT” in two, two-and-a-half months while juggling a demanding job. He read her essays and pushed her to not undersell herself. 

“When you’re writing about yourself, you tend to downplay things,” he says. “But we’d worked together, so I knew the kind of work she’d done. I was like, ‘No, this has to go in.’” 

What impressed him most, though, was her insistence on being honest. 

Keanan (2Y '27—left); Vahishta (2Y '26—right)

“There’s always this temptation to exaggerate,” he says. “Even her admissions consultant would sometimes say, ‘Let’s spice this up.’ And she’d be like, ‘No, I want it to be true to who I am.” He mentioned that being aware of her outstanding professional repertoire made him feel doubly responsible to ensure her application fully represented her accomplishments. 

Once Vahishta got into Kellogg, Keanan decided to take the GMAT after her admit. She then became his guide through the process: GMAT strategy, essays, plus first-hand intel on Kellogg. 

Sidenote: if you ever want to raise your standards for what a loving partnership looks like, just listen to Keanan or Vahishta talk about each other. The way they blush and choose their words feels almost poetic. 

Déjà Vu in the Global Hub 

“I keep telling her I’ve lived this once already through her,” he says. “She’s super communicative. Back in Mumbai, she’d narrate her entire day in insane detail. By the time I got here, it felt like a déjà vu version of Kellogg.” 

From CIM to crucible moments, he had a vivid mental picture of all the key Kellogg events that he practically felt like he was re-living it. There was one big difference between their experiences—ACE (i.e. the pre-term  American Cultural Experience program that Kellogg offers for international students). “For internationals especially, ACE was huge,” he says. “Everyone’s new to the U.S., everyone’s nervous, everyone’s figuring things out together. And Alison LeClere and Debbie Kraus, who run ACE, are just incredible.” 

Now that they’re both in Evanston, they’re finally getting a shared college experience. “It’s been amazing,” he says, grinning. “We never had a proper ‘college life’ together in undergrad. So going to class in the morning, doing assignments side by side, grocery shopping after… it’s a very new and very fun experience.” 

Keanan is recruiting for consulting this year; Vahishta’s already been through that gauntlet successfully. 

“Having her advice is huge,”

he says. “On cases, on networking, on what actually matters.” 

They haven’t taken a class together yet, but they’re planning to next quarter. 

“Let’s see how that goes,” he laughs. 

Finding Community at Kellogg 

Apart from being my pod-mate’s JV, I got to know Keanan through FirstGen@Kellogg, Kellogg’s community for students who are “first generation” in various ways (i.e. first-generation graduate, first in family to study abroad, etc.). Earlier this year, when the club was still figuring itself out and struggling to fill the treasurer role, Keanan quietly raised his hand. I asked him whether this enthusiasm to step in and give back is something that’s natural to him. After a shy pause, he responds.  

“To be honest, it just felt like a group I resonated with,” he says. “The people seemed really nice. It was a new club. I liked the idea of helping build something from scratch that could be big by the time we graduate.” 

So far, it’s exceeded expectations: “Everyone’s super proactive, organizing events, showing up for each other. It’s a really special bunch.” 

He’s found the Kellogg community very accommodative and full of supporting people. He mentioned how he was taken aback at the closeness of the Kellogg admits from Mumbai nearly eight months before the program even started. 

Special K!; Vahi in a black vest on left

Among his top Kellogg moments so far, he mentions watching Vahishta perform on stage in Special K!. “We all walked in expecting not knowing what to expect. And then you watch it and think, ‘Wait, this is production-quality good.’ The band, the acting, the jokes—everything!” 

Will he audition? 

He laughs. “I don’t think Vahi would let me get away with that one. But I’m a very enthusiastic fan.” 

His Advice for Other Couples

For anyone coming in as a JV or navigating long distance, Keanan swears by deliberate communication, respecting each other’s busy weeks, and protecting the small windows of time you do get together. 

“There will be weeks when I’m fully slammed with recruiting. There are weeks when Vahi is perpetually busy giving back to first-years. Understanding each other’s cycles and being communicative is huge.” 

From braving -20°C winds on a Himalayan summit to battling Chicagoland wind off Lake Michigan, Keanan and Vahishta seem to run on the same quiet principle: show up, put in the work, and keep choosing each other—one 5K, one essay draft, one daily call, and one shared grocery run at a time! Read About More JVs at Kellogg: Thomas Reinhart (a JV who's a Boothie!) John Gilmore