10-year-old Gorav Chhillar is enjoying time spent with his parents and sister as they go on a walk. At this time, Chhillar and his family were living in Malaysia. (Photo Credit: Gorav Chhillar)

Extreme cold and snowstorms aren’t the only new headliners at Naperville Central this month. Junior Gorav Chhillar moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Naperville early January of 2026, leaving behind the sunn(ier) South for the below zero temperatures of the Windy City. 

Georgia isn’t the only place Chhillar has lived, though. Before coming to the United States in 2023, he lived in India, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. 

“[Chhillar’s dad] works in research and development for [Coca Cola],” Chhillar said. “He worked for them in [other countries] and then he came to Atlanta, where the headquarters is.”

Chhillar was born in India, but only lived there for two weeks as an infant before he, his mom, dad and older sister packed their bags for the first time to move to China. While he doesn’t remember much from his first home, memories from preschool are still vivid in his mind. 

“In my nursery school, there [was] this purple rice that [was] kind of sweet,” Chhillar said. “It [was] the best thing ever and I’ve been trying to find it for years and years, but I can’t.”

Leaving the rice behind, Chhillar moved to Vietnam at five years old, where he lived for nearly four years. But despite constantly moving around, Chhillar has maintained many long-distance friendships and connections. 

“The thing is, I’ve been conditioned to [moving],” Chhillar said. “[I just think]: this is another move, a new beginning; I’m always optimistic.” 

When Chhillar was around 9, his family announced a third move to Malaysia. While he spent a shorter time there compared to other homes, it is equally if not more memorable in Chhillar’s mind. 

“I love Malaysia,” Chhilar said. “It [has] just good weather, skyscrapers, nice people and [lots of] diversity. You [could] go on the street and get some Nasi Lemak or roti – it [was] so good.” 

But this bliss Chhillar experienced was short lived, when his dad’s job placed his family in the Philippines. However, he never actually got to live there. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chhillar and his family were locked in Malaysia, while he attended a school in the Philippines remotely. 

“We packed all of our stuff and [then] COVID hit, so we didn’t move,” Chhillar said. “But my dad [had gone] to the Philippines by himself previously to search for somewhere to live. He was stuck there for a month, and I did online school for a straight year. It was terrible.” 

Fresh off the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chhillar, at 12 years old, packed his bags once again for Singapore. But less than a year later, he received news of the farthest move of his life: the United States. 

“Living in Asia my whole life, [we] had an American Dream idea [of the United States], especially my dad,” Chhillar said. “I thought [America] was really, really cool.” 

However, leaving Singapore behind was an emotionally fraught experience for Chhillar, far more significant than any other move. 

“[When] I was younger, I didn’t really have any emotions; my brain wasn’t developed, [not] until Singapore,” Chhillar said. “Theoretically, [moving] should get easier the more you do it, but actually, it got harder, [as I got older].” 

It didn’t help that the United States, from Chhillar’s very first experience with it, was drastically different in culture from South and East Asia. 

“Everything’s super far away [in America],” Chhillar said. “For example, in Singapore, I lived on [a] main road [called] Orchard Road, so anytime I wanted to buy [anything], I could walk down in five minutes. But here, you have to go in a car and the convenience is horrible.” 

In all of the countries he’d lived previously, Chhillar attended international schools, private institutions offering global curriculums, International Baccalaureate, or IB, preparing its students for worldwide university entry. 

Consequently, Chhillar’s first experience with public school was at Webb Bridge Middle School in Atlanta, Georgia. There he met Dhruv Arunkumar, a fellow student, in his eighth grade science class. 

“When I met him, I thought Gorav was a very smart student,” Arunkumar said. “We worked together in class, and I learned a lot [from him].” 

Despite the many changes, Chhillar still appreciates the beauty of the United States. While his short stint in Naperville hasn’t allowed him to visit the city of Chicago thus far, he aspires to visit soon. 

“[Chicago seems] a lot cleaner and more planned out than other cities I’ve seen, ” Chhillar said. “I’d say, in terms of landscape diversity, [the United States] is very beautiful. For example, there’s the Grand Canyon, and if you [travel] north, you see the Niagara Falls, and there’s also [so many] nice beaches.” 

Chhillar hopes to make a specific connection with Naperville, as he has done in all of his homes. While moving from Georgia may not have been geographically significant, Chhillar’s three year stay in Atlanta made it emotionally tolling to leave. But Chhillar has begun to make social progress at Central, befriending junior Harsh Patel in his AP Language and Composition class. 

“Around his second day, [Chhillar] came up to me and we started talking, and he ended up being a really cool guy,” Patel said in a written statement. “I later learned that we had the same lunch, [so] we [sat] together. Now that I know him, I think he’s really funny and I’m glad I became friends with him.” 

One may imagine that living in multiple countries would give Chhillar a perspective unlike most students, and they would be right. Being exposed to different cultures, people and ways of life, Chhillar has not only expanded his culinary palate or language toolkit, he has developed unique insight as well. 

“What I’ve noticed, in every place you go, there’s the same copies of the same people,” Chhillar said. “You move, and you think you’ve made it: this is your community, these are your people. But then you [leave] to another city, and you see versions of people you’ve met before. So the world [might] be big, but it’s actually so small.”