SAN DIEGO MINERAL & GEM SOCIETY

LAPIDARY SCHOOL: During Summer 2024, a total of seventeen (17) volunteer instructors, and a like number of volunteer assistant instructors, held twenty (20) three-hour or longer classes per week, for approximately 115 students per week. During Fall 2024, Winter and Spring 2025, a total of twenty-two (22) volunteer instructors, and a like number of volunteer assistant instructors, held thirty (30) three-hour or longer classes per week, for approximately 175 student per week. Classes included: cabochon making; faceting of gemstones; beginning silver fabrication of jewelry; intermediate silver fabrication; advanced silver fabrication; chasing and repouss; enameling; metal casting; rock carving; sphere making; wire wrap and wire work jewelry; and a special class for Juniors ages 9-17. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP MEETINGS: Nine General Meetings were held during the year, on a variety of topics related to gems, minerals, fossils, jewelry and other interests. Three combined Mineral Division and Gemological Division meetings were held in 2025, with programs featuring a summary of the Tucson Show, Jade minerals, and a Silent Auction. All meetings were open to the public, with an attendance ranging from 25 to 50 people per meeting.VISITS, LECTURES, SAMPLES: (1) Approximately 900 children and teachers from public and private schools toured the Society museum and Lapidary School. Brief lectures and rocks were provided for free upon request.(2) Boxed mineral specimen sets and buckets of other samples of minerals, rocks and gems were provided to elementary school teachers for free, upon request.The SDMG Museum was open for its normal hours: 11 am to 4 pm daily.TOURS & SPECIMEN I.D.: Several Society volunteers gave 2-4 tours weekly to members of the general public interested in touring the Lapidary Classrooms and seeing students working on projects. Mineral, gem, lapidary and meteorite specimens were identified, for free. DECEMBER NIGHTS OPEN HOUSE: Held at the SDMG Building, 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park, San Diego CA, for two days, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7, 2024. The free SDMG museum was open for extended hours, from 9 am to 11 pm, with docents answering questions about museum exhibits and demonstrators in every classroom showing off lapidary, metalsmithing, sphere making, lost wax casting, and faceting techniques. Donated mineral, fossil and lapidary specimens, as well as books and magazines, were available for sale to the public at low cost. ANNUAL SAN DIEGO COUNTY FAIR GEMS, MINERALS, FOSSILS & JEWELRY DEPT: The annual San Diego County Fair was held from June 12 through July 7, 2024, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar, CA. The Coordinator, Assistant Coordinator and one departmental staffer were members of the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society. Six of the eight Division judges were members of SDMG. The Museum-quality display of exhibits featured over 317 competitive and special entries, as well as seven mineral and gem dealers. Staff handled all aspects of setup, intake of exhibits, judging, ongoing maintenance, docent tours, scheduling of demonstrators and Dig for Treasure volunteers, exhibit giveback, and takedown. Volunteer demonstrators from San Diego Mineral and Gem, as well as other local rock clubs, answered fairgoers questions while showing off the skills necessary to polish rocks, make silver chains, facet gemstones, make polished rock spheres, carve rock into miniature sculptures, identify gemstones and minerals, and similar activities. Approximately 375,000 fairgoers toured the Gems & Minerals Dept. exhibit hall for an outstanding educational experience available nowhere else in San Diego County.