By Hadas Kuznits

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The ninth graders at Cristo Rey Philadelphia High School in North Philadelphia participating in Chef Marc Vetri’s healthy school lunch Eatiquette program got a chance to meet the chef himself.

Kelly Herrinkohl, the director of the Vetri Foundation for Children, says Marc Vetri stopped by the school.

“Marc worked in the kitchen with the chef and engaged with the kids,” Herrinkohl explains.

(Credit: Hadas Kuznits/KYW Newsradio)

Cristo Rey is the first high school participating in the lunch program. Marc Vetri says that since launching here at the beginning of the school year, his family-style eating program has not only changed the kids’ food choices, but also how they interact with each other.

“I think normally, the lunchroom is a very scary place — this guy’s an outcast, you have to look a certain way to eat over here. This just kind of eliminates all that,” Vetri explains.

“The family-style eating is amazing, because you learn a lot about a lot of other students that you didn’t know a lot about,” agrees ninth grader Isabel Milan.