(CNN) It's Thursday night in the "Sweetest Place on Earth," Hershey, Pennsylvania, the town famed for its chocolate.
Traces of mozzarella, boisterous conversations and anxiety fill the air of a small, packed pizzeria in the heart of town.
This distracted environment is not the ideal place for a group of students to study before a big test of their wits. But that's exactly the point.
The teens appear doggedly absorbed in their work, despite the chaotic atmosphere.
"Distraction teaches you to focus no matter what," said Colette Silvestri, a gifted and enrichment teacher at Hershey High School.
The next day, the students file into a small, unmarked classroom at their high school, smiling and chatting. The teenagers take their seats while sheets of paper are passed out. Feet start tapping, knuckles are cracked, and Silvestri sets a timer, at which point absolute silence fills the room.
This is not a final or a standardized test. This is voluntary.
This is memory team practice. And these students are "mental athletes," who exercise their brains rather than their bodies.
They've been training for the first high school team edition of the USA Memory Championships -- the Olympics of mental games.
Continue reading at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/health/memory-championships-athletes-hershey-high-school/index.html