Then: FRCC PRECISION MACHINING STUDENT
NOW: OWNER/FOUNDER PILSE PRECISION PRODUCTS
When Sheri lost her husband to a heart attack in 2012, her world
turned upside down. Ken Dron had been in the machining field
since age 17 and started a precision machining shop on their
Fort Collins property, building prototypes for inventors when he
wasn’t at his job at St. Vrain Manufacturing, Inc. Before he passed,
Sheri was learning machining skills to help him in the business,
which he dreamed of making his full-time endeavor one day.
At first, Sheri considered shutting things down and selling her
property—but she decided she wanted to finish what Ken had
started. In the wake of Ken’s death, one of her daughters was
also doing some soul-searching and switched gears from
applying to veterinary school to enrolling in the Emergency
Medical Technician program at FRCC. She nudged Sheri toward
the Precision Machining Technology certificate program.
Sheri enrolled in 2013.
In school, Sheri got a paid internship with Whip Mix. When she
completed her FRCC program, she was hired as a CNC machinist
at Walker Manufacturing. Meanwhile, her daughter, Chantelle,
was hired as the community outreach coordinator for the Windsor
Severance Fire Rescue and was doing research on Advanced
Resuscitation Training with a well-known expert on the subject
based out of the University of California San Diego. Today,
Chantelle is the EMS program manager/resuscitation officer.
In fall 2017, Sheri left Walker for a new adventure. The mother-
daughter duo has launched a new business that will build
precision products that optimize resuscitation performance.
Sheri’s other daughter, Danielle—a project manager for an
insurance analytics company—will also be partnering in the
business. Their goal: to help save lives… in honor of Ken.
"FRCC gave me a fantastic education and the confidence to work
on multiple types of machines. And now, this new business gives
me a life purpose. I’m extremely thankful to the people who supported
me along the way and to FRCC for showing me that I can truly do
anything. I’m very excited for the future."