The Boston Partners in Education (BPIE) nonprofit will be hosting its 60th Annual Gala on Thursday, Oct. 15 at the WGBH event space in Brighton at 6 p.m.

This year, the group is honoring volunteer and State Rep. Rob Consalvo, who has shared his experiences of coming up in Hyde Park with students throughout the Boston Public Schools (BPS) system.

“I’m completely honored,” Consalvo said. “I’m very humbled by the fact they’re recognizing me. It’s not necessary; I love being a State Rep. And doing the work, it’s the best job I’ve ever had.”

Consalvo said he’s been familiar with the BPIE since the time he was a city councilor, as well as working for the BPS under former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

“The work they’re doing is so important,” he said. “I’ve said before in so many speeches, but in government, we can’t do it alone. Our nonprofits are really the glue that keeps service and public service together.”

Last month, Consalvo participated in the Pathfinders program, which puts professionals in front of high schoolers to help kids figure out where they want to go in life. He went to New Mission High School in Hyde Park.

“That day at New Mission was incredible,” he said. “We interacted with a lot of students, they asked incredible questions, a lot of tough and serious questions. It’s a really great way to get individuals from the community, from all walks of life, into the schools, interacting with the kids and, like I said, answering tough questions. They were not shy about asking the tough questions.”

BPIE Board Member and Parkway mainstay Tim West said he’s been involved now for three years at the group, helping to share his expertise as a marketing director for a construction company.

“I first became involved with Boston Partners because I was asked to come in and mentor,” he said.

While much of the programming is centered around matching students with mentors, West said the Pathfinders program is how many volunteers get started.

“It used to be called the Big Cheese Reads,” he said, adding that it was first geared towards younger kids then. “But I was originally asked to come in and participate. I was kind of hooked after that and got more involved in the organization.”

West said he was a little biased at the time.

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“I did have some skin in the game at that point, as both my kids were both in BPS,” he said. “The mission of education is important to me because of that and the fact that my wife is a principal.”

West said since then the organization asked him to be on the Board and it’s worked out since then.

He said his expertise is in construction communications, and while he said every Pathfinder visit is different, his experience was being able to let the students know that there are more aspects to construction than the purely physical. An understanding of engineering and physics is definitely required on the job – especially when working high up – but the skills necessary to help the company get those jobs and work well with the myriad of other companies, contractors and governments are another thing entirely.

“The kids found it interesting because I work in the construction industry, but I’m on the marketing and business development side of things,” he said. “They surprised, because they said, ‘You don’t look like you work in construction,’ and that leads to another conversation; ‘Well there are many roles in Construction.’ You know there are people who work in estimating, accounting or they work in my role in marketing and business development. Overall the Pathfinders program is designed to bring in professionals to talk to the kids and inspire them and start them thinking about what they might want to do when they get older.”

West said the talks vary widely depending on the speaker.

“It really depends on what industry they come from, because they’ve had Sam Kennedy from the Boston Red Sox and (Boston Police Department Bauru of Professional Development Superintendent) Nora Baston did too, and so their goal is to have people come in from all different industries,” he said. “How they got into their career, where they went school and then play up the importance of education and to stay involved.”

West said he’s got some home team pride in the organization, but he said being able to help kids strive with the BPIE is pretty rewarding as well.

“Every day I’m involved with BPIE is exciting and rewarding,” he said. “Number one, being a kid born and raised in Boston, I just root for kids in Boston, just in general. Being involved within an organization that has the primary mission of empowering kids through academic mentoring. I think all the of these things we do, bringing in politicians, athletes, construction marketers, all that helps to facilitate the matching of a mentor and mentee that could potentially change the trajectory of a student’s life? That’s pretty powerful.”