THE year’s final Swan Chamber of Commerce Hour of Power was an invitation to consider the legacy of social interactions and their lifelong impacts.

Swan Christian College head of mathematics Alex Smilovitis spoke about the effects of social capital that aren’t immediately apparent.

“Let me introduce you to Zoe,” he said.

“Zoe was a typical teenager and trying to connect with her, trying to be a mentor teacher was basically praying for her and saying, ‘I care about you’.

“At the end of last year, I said, ‘Zoe, I care about you,’ because she had all these entries inside the system saying she’s done this, she’s been rude to this teacher, she’s been rude to that teacher, she hasn’t obeyed instructions.

“I said, ‘Zoe, I’m getting all these things. What are you doing? I care about you’.

“She looked at me in the face and said, ‘Stop caring about me. I feel like you’re stalking me. It’s creepy.’

“But in Year 9, we rebuilt a wonderful relationship to the point where two weeks ago I announced I was going to be stepping down from the head of department and moving on to different things and her face just dropped.

“She said, ‘You’re no longer going to be my mentor teacher?’ to which I said, ‘I thought it would be a relief, Zoe, I don’t have to torment you any longer,’ and she just looked at me and said, ‘Really? You’re going to leave us?’

“I encouraged her and said, ‘Zoe, next year you’re going into Year 10, and I’m actually going into a position where you’re doing some work experience.

“I want to be involved in that because part of my portfolio here at the Swan Chamber is Jobs Galore, and I’ll connect you to industry and be in a better position for social capital’.

“You are branches and there is a stump — trees do not just stand on their own and the larger the tree, the bigger the root system and the unseen happening underneath every one of you.”

City of Swan councillor Cate McCullough said social capital was about giving to the community and helping others fulfil their aims.

“I love the fact I could meet with residents, community groups and individuals who have concerns, dreams and visions to be realised and we have a meeting with them and them knowing they could realise what they were looking for,” she said.

“That really excites me each and every day with what I do and that flows on to the community work.

“When you’re investing in others, they can see that example, and they’ll do it too.

“Build and reinforce those social relationships with repeat interactions because that establishes stronger relationships and understanding, and some of those conversations just open up a new path.”

“It’s the quality of the relationship, not just the people that you know, so value them because it’s easy to go about our busy lives without valuing the knowledge and so encourage others through mutual exchange.”