What it is

Gemstones and Lapidary Arts is a multi-session adult lapidary course run by Northside Independent School District (NISD) Community Education in San Antonio, Texas. The course page says beginning students “learn the art of lapidary, cutting and polishing gemstones that can be used to make beautiful jewelry”, and that using diamond-based lapidary equipment “each participant will make 2-3 finished gemstones”. The page thanks the Southwest Gem and Mineral Society in San Antonio for supplying the lapidary equipment. Each run is three 3-hour sessions, one a week. It is a public-enrollment class, not a club and not a shop.

Who it’s for

Adults in the San Antonio area who want a hands-on start in cutting and polishing stones (“No prior experience is required”), and returning students. The page says advanced students who have taken the course before “will require less supervision” and may work with a wider range of more challenging materials. Because of demand, students may enroll in only one session (afternoon, evening or morning) per month, and multiple registrations for the same month are cancelled.

Why it’s listed

This is NISD Community Education’s own registration catalog for the course (the district’s CampusCE storefront, linked from nisd.net’s Community Education page “Browse Classes”). It prints a dated schedule, times, fee, supply fee, instructors and class location. It is not a scraped event listing.

Fee (course page, checked 2026-10-12): $65.00 per run, “priced as marked; no additional discounts apply”. A supply fee of $30 is payable to the instructor and covers safety equipment, raw gemstones, use of all tools and equipment, and jewelry materials.
Format: 3 sessions, 3 hours each, one day a week. Location: Northside Learning Center, Bldg C (Room C112 on the October runs). Instructors: John Speck and Scott Bossard.
Dated runs (course page, checked today; dates printed with year):
- Nov 3–17, 2026, Tuesdays 6:00–9:00 p.m.: open on the check date (the only run without a “THIS CLASS IS FULL” note).
- Nov 3–17, 2026, Tuesdays 1:00–4:00 p.m. (item 2602JWL10105): full, waitlist.
- Nov 4–18, 2026, Wednesdays 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (2602JWL10112): full, waitlist.
- Dec 1–15, 2026, Tuesdays 1:00–4:00 p.m. (2602JWL10107) and 6:00–9:00 p.m. (2602JWL10108): full, waitlist.
- Dec 2–16, 2026, Wednesdays 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (2602JWL10113): full, waitlist.
- Oct 6–20 (Tue) and Oct 7–21 (Wed), 2026: already in session.
Office (catalog footer, checked today): Northside ISD – Community Education, 6632 Bandera Road, San Antonio, TX 78238; 210-397-8100 (option 2); [email protected].

Seats change daily. Confirm the open run in the live catalog before relying on it.

Official URL

https://www.campusce.net/nisd/course/course.aspx?C=133&mc=15&pc=3

NISD Community Education (district page, “Browse Classes”): https://www.nisd.net/district/community-education

Course catalog home: https://www.campusce.net/nisd

(First-party NISD registration catalog and district page checked 2026-10-12. Both cited URLs returned HTTP 200 to curl with a Chrome user agent, as did the catalog home.)

Location

Classes meet at Northside Learning Center, Bldg C, San Antonio, TX (the course page does not print a street address for the Learning Center). Registration and questions go through NISD Community Education, 6632 Bandera Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, 210-397-8100 (option 2).

This is a public-enrollment workshop/course. It is not a club and not a supplier.

Notes

Category is Workshops: a priced, dated, public-enrollment class with named instructors. The Southwest Gem and Mineral Society supplies the equipment but does not run the registration; this listing covers the NISD course, not the club.
First San Antonio listing and first Texas workshop on Lapidary Plaza (Texas already has the Austin, Dallas and Houston clubs). Away from Friday’s MS / UT / WY and Thursday’s KS / OR / OH.
The registration catalog runs on CampusCE’s hosting (campusce.net/nisd), which NISD’s own Community Education page links to as its class catalog. It is treated as first-party, the same way Sawtooth’s Imperisoft catalog was.
Most November and December runs were full on the check date; only the Nov 3–17 Tuesday evening run showed no “full” note. The page does not print seat counts.
The two fees are separate charges as printed ($65 course fee to NISD; $30 supply fee to the instructor), not two numbers for one fee.
The image is NISD’s own district logo (an SVG drawn in light gray for a dark header), rendered to PNG on a dark navy panel. The course page has no class photo and no og:image.
Not affiliated with Lapidary Plaza.
No Lapidary Plaza contact, registration, waitlist sign-up, purchase, form submission or publication action was taken.

FAQ

Q: How much does the NISD Gemstones and Lapidary Arts class cost?
A: The course page (checked 2026-10-12) lists a $65.00 fee, plus a $30 supply fee paid to the instructor for safety gear, raw gemstones, tools and jewelry materials.

Q: When are the next classes?
A: Runs are listed for Nov 3–17, 2026 (Tuesdays, 1–4 p.m. or 6–9 p.m.), Nov 4–18 (Wednesdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.), Dec 1–15 (Tuesdays, two times) and Dec 2–16 (Wednesdays). On the check date only the Nov 3–17 Tuesday evening run was not marked full.

Q: Do I need experience?
A: No. Beginners make 2–3 finished gemstones. Returning students can work with more challenging material with less supervision.

Q: Where is the class held?
A: At Northside Learning Center, Bldg C, in San Antonio. The Community Education office is at 6632 Bandera Road, San Antonio, TX 78238.

Q: Can I sign up for more than one session a month?
A: No. Because of demand, students may enroll in only one session (morning, afternoon or evening) per month; extra registrations for the same month are cancelled.