The COREMatters Project is a 13-week, curriculum that teaches kids the importance of being strong, balanced and flexible. We address these things in the physical sense and talk about not allowing others to knock you down. We then speak of the necessity of having these within you as well so that you cannot be knocked down with words. This process replaces the false power that violence and bullying provides with real EMPOWERMENT. The COREMatters project is based on research in the areas of bullying prevention, competency and social emotional learning. However, our technique is innovative. We utilize the ancient art of Taekwondo as a physical metaphor for the social emotional lessons. This creates an environment that is based on discipline, respect and a strict code of conduct. This allows the children to feel the concepts with their muscles and creates meaning for the difficult-to- understand social emotional lesson. Part of this process includes teaching children how to face and handle adversity. Many well-meaning parents remove anything perceived as painful or difficult from their children's lives. This actually impedes the natural maturation process and creates young people who, since they have not had to solve their own problems, are incapable of handling the normal pitfalls of adulthood, as well as not having tools with which to handle the emotions that go along. This leads to increased anxiety, fear and confusion, which many times leads to violence. The COREMatters Project teaches children that although they may not be in control of everything that happens to them, THEY are in absolute control of how they react. Strength, balance and flexibility are the main ingredients in resiliency; a needed asset in today's culture.