I have had this discussion with administrators, and my take-away is the following:
Developmentally, most students do not start to look at the forces that formed them until they are a bit older- often ethnic clubs in high school are sparsely attended and it is often Juniors and Seniors in college who are attending these clubs, starting to wonder about “nature and nurture”, and what forces came together to form “me”.
A sense of cultural identity often forms later.
For kids who have a certain background, but do not appear to have the background, this can cause conflict. The parents and grandparents are culturally attuned to that brief time in Colombia? Likely the child is also affected. Much of South America consists of European emigrants fleeing something.
Here is what @obligatoryname could do: Reflect on his relationship vis-a-vis his heritage. How does being Latino affect him? Has he felt pressure to hide that aspect of his identity? How does it feel when he is in a group and they make bigoted remarks about hispanics? What if he does not fit into a forced stereotype caricature the WE ALL feel he should fit into? Does that invalidate his own identity?
This reflection will help @obligatoryname decide how to address this in his applications; more importantly, it will start him down the road of knowing himself and becoming comfortable with his identity.
The shortcut is to “check the box”, but taking time to inquire and reflect will increase your maturity and be a step in confronting your own identity, your feelings about it, and may change and deepen your relationship with your relatives.
I encourage you to really reflect on your relationship with your ancestry; and then check the box without hesitation!