History of União Methodist School

União Methodist School was founded in 1870 by Aleixo Vicente Vurlod, a Frenchman who arrived in Brazil by way of Montevideo, Uruguay. When Aleixo Vurlod arrived in the city of Uruguaiana, still a small village at that time, he began to teach in private homes. French descendants and children of military officers studied with him. During the invasion of Solano Lopes’ troops in 1865, Vurlod is said to have aided the people of Uruguaiana.

União was the first coed school to be founded in Uruguaiana. In the 19th Century, boys and girls studying in the same school was rare.

Aleixo Vurlod married a Brazilian woman and had three daughters, who later went on to teach at the school as well. Vurlod, a protestant, became Methodist in 1905, along with his family. In 1908, the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States took over the administration of União, naming missionaries Rev. John Price and Bishop Walter R. Lambuh to manage the operations of União. In 1936, Guilherme Myllus became the first Brazilian to run the school.

Throughout its history, União has offered courses from the preschool level through the level of secondary education. In 2002 União joined the Southern Methodist Eduational Network, joining together with IPA and American Methodist Schools and IPA Methodist College. In 2004, União began to offer graduate-level courses in Law, thus beginning its connection with higher education. This offering was expanded in 2005 with the introduction of an undergraduate degree program in Physical Education.