Sabira Ablatt has won The Friends of Franklin Library Scholarship in Memory of Wilma Winters. A 2025 graduate of Franklin High School, Sabira recently received $1,000 from The Friends to help cover costs of a college education.
Sabira's winning entry was based on her essay about how the Franklin Library inspired in her a love of reading as well as serving her community. "From my experiences with the library, I've gained my own passion for building community and always uplifting others," wrote Sabira, who was active in Franklin High's Community Service Club. "I plan to continue fulfilling my passions for service and always put my community first, just as the library did."
A second-semester student at Cornell, Sabira is studying mechanical engineering.
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| Sabira Ablatt recently was awarded a check for having won The Friends of Franklin Library Scholarship in Memory of Wilma Winters. She was joined by FoFL board members, from left, Elizabeth Pungitore, Laura Hogan, and Letha Hemingway. |
The Friends of Franklin Library, an independent, non-profit organization committed to supporting the Franklin Public Library, established its scholarship program in 2014. The annual scholarship was part of several efforts undertaken to honor the late Wilma Winters, a longtime Franklin resident and library supporter. Winters, who had a long career in higher education, worked for many years as a librarian, including at Boston University Medical School and Harvard's School of Public Health. She spent her retirement years volunteering at the Franklin Public Library.
The Friends of Franklin Library has a long tradition of raising money to supplement library programs. In recent years, the group has purchased items for the Library of Things, funded prizes for the children's summer reading program, bought tables and chairs for the main Reading Room, and paid for passes to The Butterfly Place. The group also coordinated the creation of the brick patio at the library's School Street entrance, and it conducts a fudge sale every February.
Learn more about the Friends at fofl02038.org.
