Close the Gap is a project that was started by Bria Gilmore, Lydia Baum and Christina Gilmore to support Hemophilia awareness and raise money for the National Hemophilia Foundation. Joseph Mickeliunas, a history teacher at Central, has a son named Elliott who was diagnosed with severe Hemophilia A at birth.  

Baum and the Gilmores are former students of Mickeliunas who decided to do this project in honor of Mickeliunas and Elliott. Baum recalled the beginning of the project during the event’s introduction, “Mr. Mick has always been one of my favorite teachers. In Academic Decathalon last year, we decided that we needed to raise awareness for Hemophilia. We wanted to help Mr. Mick, so this year we decided to incorporate our ideas into a project for DECA.” 

The Halloween Talent Bash was an event hosted at Sozo Coffeehouse in Downtown Omaha on October 28 to raise money for the National Hemophilia Foundation. There were nine different acts at the event and there was an informational and heartfelt segment from Mickeliunas, all lasting a combined total of four hours. Students performed improv, songs (instrumental, vocal, and combinations of both) and slam poetry. 

Before the performances started, students and audience members mingled and spoke of thoughts and feelings on the event. Willa Rauch, one of Mickeliunas’ students, stated, “I’m nervous- the first two songs in my set are solos and they are original pieces. Jackson [Farho] and Holly [Kerr] are coming up to perform with me for the third song. I’m really excited, we’re performing an Alicia Keys song. I hope it goes well.” 

Students of all grades performed at the Halloween Talent Bash, but one group featured Mr. Mickeliunas as a guitarist on the last two songs in their set. Bad Self Portraits, a trio started a few years ago had a 45-minute time slot filled with their “acoustic indie pop” style music. The audience was captivated during the band’s performance, people were seen moving along with the beat and recording different portions of their performance.  

Bad Self Portraits engaged with the audience between songs, making jokes and conversation. Throughout their 45-minute time slot, the trio danced and moved along with the music they were making, giving off a mellow and down to earth vibe. This group embraced the atmosphere and the addition of Mickeliunas was celebrated by other performers and those who came to support Hemophilia awareness.  

Mickeliunas shredded the electric guitar during his performance with Bad Self Portraits. He’s been playing guitar since he was twelve-years-old and has always had a love for music.  

Mickeliunas thanked his Central family for their support and the students who performed in the bash. Throughout the event, there was laughter and there were many smiles, but there were also tears shed. During his “TedTalk” Mickeliunas told the audience members about Elliott and how his family was trying to help raise money and awareness for Hemophilia.  

At the Halloween Talent Bash, Close the Gap Raised six-hundred-fifty dollars through ticket sales and donations (at ten dollars per ticket). Mickeliunas jerked some tears when telling the audience about his initial reaction and discovery of Elliott’s disease. “To us that was a complete shock,” he told everyone, “To know your child has a disease that could limit him. Instead of looking at ways he would be limited, we looked at what we could do to help him [Elliott] and others like him.”